Milling Oats vs Milling Wheat

[Vader]

Silverback, I don't know why you think that people who are pro-board are afraid of anything. I think it takes a lot of courage to take a stand and defend it.

Have you seen what is happening in the corporate world with mergers and acquisitions? Bunge has doubled the size of its holdings in the last five years to become the third largest grain handler in the world. They did it through acquisitions.

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool now that it is completely privatized could be "in play" at any time. The fiduciary duty of the Board of Directors would not be to resist a takeover but to ensure that the shareholders got the best price for their shares. How long will it be before one of the big four or five grain handling companies sets their sight on SWP. SWP has put themselves into a very desirable position now that they have converted their debt to equity.

What possible difference could it make to have one more small insignificant undercapitalized grain company join the fray. That would be the reality of CWB Grainco Inc.

What we should all do is address the real problem. Low grain prices. We produce too much. We simply do not respond in classic term to supply and demand. When supply goes up and prices go down we produce more. And so it goes.

Getting rid of the CWB will not lead to higher grain prices.

Higer energy prices will ultimately lead to us converting acres to energy crops and if that takes enough acres out of production we will then have a type of supply management in food grain crops.

Let us take the bit in our mouths and figure out a way for farmers to be the equity owners of the ethanol and bio-diesel value added industry, as is happening in the United States.

[parsley]

Vader,

Yes, you are more than eager for us Western horses to take that 'cheap fuel bit' in the mouth. Hee haw. Hee haw. Does your imagery mirror your marching orders?

First it was the Government using the CWB to download Canad's food aid committments on Western farmers. Now will the Government will be using the CWB to download high fuel costs on Western farmers?

Cheap grain...cheap fuel. Now there's your national common good, vader. Hee haw.

Piles and piles of cheap grain, regulated by the state, producing fuel, regulated by the state.


You'd better make a trip down to the Ontario farmers to get i them in the single-desk tent, because although they rejected CWB marketing from the getgo, this time they might be receptive when you wine and dine them.

Cheap fuel made with cheap grain. And taxed provincially and federally, appropriately.

Bring a sample. The proverbial Ethanol tent inflated by your gas.

They can't resist.

Parsley

[silverback]

I have put up a lot of questions that remain unanswered. Please feel free -anytime.

The CWB has had complete control of the vast majority of grain produced on the prairies for how long? How is it that only when asked or pressed, you reply that we have to search for new uses for our land and our grain production? What has been going on up until now? The boards policy has been to export product overseas, period. This is exactly the problem I see in the current operation of the board. There is no foresight, and there is no accountability. The rest of the world has been searching for new uses for its products for years, but we haven't even started. Now you say "Just let us keep doing what we have been, but we will make things better, honest". I say enough is enough. You do what you think will help the people who want to use the board and I will do what I think will help my little farm. Let me be free to fail, maybe I will learn from it and do better next time.

[agstar77]

Livestock producers will soon feel the heat of higher feed prices with or without the CWB . Cheap grain made out of expensive natural gas will not go on much longer. For interest local chicken producers are paying 3.50 for feed wheat. While this is still below production costs it shows the effect of high transport costs and high production costs. The next big crisis will be food in the supermarkets and at what price. One major crisis in the world will cause chaos in the food chain. Only then will things change. Biodeisel and the other alternatives will only work if they pay their way. If all we are doing is converting natural gas into bio fuels, it's a fools game. I agree the days of mass export of grains might be over but unfortunately the options for using our land base are not immediately available. Perhaps the day will come when the CWB will be just another grain company like the pools that have disintegrated or maybe it will be the only grain company with its own handling system with on farm sourced and pre-graded grain going directly to a buyer through a container car. We probably won't need those large concrete tombstones or the grain handling facilities at the port terminals. Anyone else have another view of the future?

[ianben]

Here in UK we are told we will harvest 2.5 times the energy we put in.
We are selling wheat for £70/tonne when it energy value is £105/tonne.

I read your debates on CWB and cannot decide who is right.

If CWB is a strong motivated seller and seeks out new and premium markets, is actually getting the energy value for your grain then it is doing a good job

Otherwise it is just a very very large farmer with an enormous amount of grain to "sell" which buyers use to depress all farmers income yours and mine.

I see your government has given the green light to biofuels does this involve CWB?

[Vader]

parsley,

Braying like a donkey suits you to a tee.

[parsley]

I've got to hand it to you vader, you made me really laugh.

Parsley

[avmayor]

Dear Agri-ville.com Forum User

Most of you have been long time participants and we would like to see you continue in the Agri-ville.com forums.

Please let's keep this forum educational. Making comments towards another is really not acceptable. This thread has many incidents of this.

These forums are basically provided as a free public service so farmers can help each other through thoughtful and considerate discussion.

Sincerely,

Mayor

[silverback]

I am trying to get educated, but I can never get my questions answered directly. How come?

[melvill]

Quite honestly, silverback, I share your frustrations with some of the discussions on the Commodity Marketing forum. Often questions are answered with rhetoric.

Charlie and I would like to steer the posts toward more fruitful discussion than the political stuff that is often here. However, when we try, we get little or no response.

I, personally, know of a number of producers who regularly watch these forums but don't participate because "it's too political". To those watchers: Please participate. Maybe you can help the moderators raise the level of discussion.