The CWB returns all sales revenues minus expenses (approx. 10 cents per bushel) to the farmers.

[TOM4CWB]

Agstar;

I would like to export wheat through Canada's west coast ports too... but I cannot take the lower cost to my farm gate BECAUSE of the CWB. And I am an ALBERTA farmer.

Daily pricing contracts from the CWB that are actually competitive with US prices would get us closer... but Agstar... why would the CWB be competitive and pay me more since they have a monopoly?

[silverback]

Agstar;

Why are you farming?

That is the most defeatist post I have ever read. Instead of fighting for a better return, you are saying why even try? Just because the Wheat Board has been here as long as many can remember does not mean it is the only way to sell grain. Does it? If you are not interested in getting the best price for your product in the whole world, I have to question why you bother to put in a crop at all? If you have given up let someone else farm it for you, maybe they will not sound so defeated by big brother.

[wedino]

Agstar,

You state, “Marketing with a single seller will still return more than marketing through multiple sellers competing against one another.”

If what you state is true, why does the Ontario WB only handle about 20% of the wheat sold in Ontario? Surely Ont. producers would use their WB if it meant more change in their jeans.

[lohner]

Well, I'm far from being a swami on this subject. However I would prefer a contract that meets in the middle with the processor. I'm told that producers of some fruits and vegetables work very closely with processors and retailers. I for one would have no problems with Molson Coors telling me when to seed and thresh as they have for years elsewhere.
I would not mind being a prosperous "janitor". We are all cogs in a wheel. YOU choose the size of each.
However a true marketing board would tell us exactly how much to milk-oops- I mean thresh.
I would like to work with an end user to learn what my elevation and average night temps/humidity produce best. I am too close to the eight ball to expand fast enough to rely on economy of scale alone.
But keep worrying about the color and size of the fiddle and not the nearness of the flames.
I've tried to keep looking over the fence for a new strategical angle of attack, but time alters all things even goals.
To all of you who will not outlive your equity no matter how hard you dig in your heels-Godspeed and Godbless.
I would like to renew my optimism-cash-like everyone else who is speeding past me out here. (Alberta).
Any tactics?

[TOM4CWB]

Silverback;

Didn't the CWB just turn 70 years old?

[TOM4CWB]

lohner,

Canola on Canola on...

I am with you on moving up the chain to get closer to the end user, and working directly with them to increase productivity and value for both our operations while reducing costs of production jointly.

Co-operation and close communication is only smart business... becoming involved directly in marketing with the enduser makes me a better producer of products they buy from me!

[silverback]

Seventy Years !! ?? Holy s___.

Agstar has managed to get us off topic again without answering the initial questions and debate at the start of the post.

[agstar77]

So if you think the CWB allows grain companies to charge too much why would they charge less without the CWB. With the rate of consolidation two grain handling facilities in Mb. three in Sask and two in ALTA would work, perhaps directly controlled by the CWB. Anther route would be grain prepared to spec on the farm, picked up and loaded at bulk inland terminals. I am not saying there is not a future in farming, just in mass production of generic grain. If you guys have not noticed most of the prairies are becoming depopulated, largely due to the drive to efficiency of large scale production. We need to find better uses for our land mass that is more population intensive. The argument about basisisnt abot how the system works as much as it is what we are producing, we need higher value products where handling and shipping costs are less important,

[silverback]

In your opinion then, how would you say the CWB is improving the situation in helping us develop higher value products for export?

[Incognito]

"yet you probably were one of the first to ask for the removal of the crow rate"

Were you one of the naysayers that said the crow was there for life. One of the first to derail a 13 billion payment from Pepin, or one that opposed a 7 billion payment from Mayer and then went to the sidelines in 1995 when REG handed out 1.3 billion?

How different would the prairies be with an extra 12 billion dollars in 1982 dollars versus 1.3 in 1995?

Who is accountable for that?

Re basis: compare basis for non-board grains versus CWB grains and your question is answered.