CWB- Malt Barley is a disaster

[Barnburner]

The CWB must lose its monopoly on Malt. Currently it just encourages overproduction- for example the only way to make more money is to grow more as the price received is the same no matter what variety is grown. If we had to market our own Malt and actually grew a specific variety for a specific market and contracted a price ahead of time we would have an opportunity to capture niche markets (or grow lower yielding yet still desirable Malt varieties for the same or more net income). At the present- the CWB pays the same for either Harrington- low yielding yet still desirable or Stein- higher yielding but crap that only China will buy. So we put our faith in plant breeders and technology to come up with higher yielding and acceptable malt varieties to produce more than we can sell to drive the price down further every year- does $2.40/ bushel maybe eventually paid 1 1/2 years from now ring any bells out there. The only people benefitting from this crazy high volume scenario are- you guessed it the CWB- because they get paid very well to market that huge volume which otherwise should and would not exist. You could apply this logic to the other cereals to a lesser degree. We as farmers have to take back the responsibility and the initiative to market our own products- the status quo is not sustainable economically or agronomically.We have a vested self interest in selling our crops for a profit- these so-called experts in Winnipeg still make their usual 70- 100 g's a year selling our grain at a loss year after year- because they don't really really really care. They don't go out and get a second or third off farm job after a bad year do they? We are the only industry that blindly produces a product without a clue as to its price or saleability- blind faith and optimism does not ensure a successful farm. Gone are the days when you just grow the grain- we have to take responsibility to sell it as well- this is too important for our survival to leave in the hands of someone else. Would you bring your children into the world only to give them away to someone else to raise? My prediction is that the CWB will soon become extinct- it has to- except this time unlike the dinosaurs we know the meteor is coming.

[wedino]

I agree with you, Barnburner. Add to your list of beneficiaries from cwb malt contracts the grain companies. SWP tariff on malt barley is $15.15 compared to durum which is $8.41. Does the word "****" fit here, Vader?

[charliep]

I am a malt barley optimist. The optimism comes from the demand side.

Canada processes about 1 mln tonnes of malt barley every year. 2/3 of this malt product is exported.

New malt capacity has been built across the border - would have been nice to have here but not water under the bridge. Canadian malt barley is a part of what the US maltsters process. US farmers get offered some pretty innovative malt barley contracts which could be duplicated here.

China/S.E. Asia is a growing market - you can check out the CWB long term market (http://www.cwb.ca/en/buying/market_commentary/forecast.jsp).

Over the years, malt barley has always been among the top three most profitable crops to grow. I would think our challenge is to grow the market. The question is what is the most effective marketing system to do this. The other issue to follow is trends in the malt barley supply chain and methods for meeting customers needs most efficiently.