Wisdom and the CWB

[TOM4CWB]

Vader;

Do you wonder why the CWB marketing scheme is failing?

It is not the people at the CWB, it is not the sincerety of how strongly they believe, it is the foundation of deceit built by Goodale that is killing the CWB.

And here is why. Words from the wisest person who ever lived. Solomon.

Sadly...CWB principals brake every one of these proverbs... in one way or another.

Want to fix the heart and soul of the CWB? Correct these problems!

(11:15)He who puts up security for another will surely suffer,
But whoever refuses to strike hands in pledge is safe.

(11:26) People curse the man who hoards grain,
but blessing crowns him who is willing to sell.

(11:27) He who seeks good finds goodwill,
but evil comes to him who searches for it.

(11:28) Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,
but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.

(13:11) Dishonest money dwindles away,
but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.

(14:14) The faithless will be repaid for there ways,
and the good man rewarded for his.

(14:23) Hard work brings a profit,
but mere talk leads only to poverty.

(15:16) Better a little with the fear of the LORD,
than great wealth with turmoil

(15:17) Better a meal of vegetables where there is love,
than a fattened calf with hatred.

(16:8) Better a little with righteousness
than much gain with injustice.

(16:32) Better a patient man than a warrior,
a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.

(17:15) Acquitting the guilty, and condemning the innocent-
the LORD detests them both.

(17:19) He who loves a quarrel loves sin,
he who builds a high gate invites destruction.

(17:26) It is not good to punish an innocent man,
or to flog officials for their integrity.

(18:12) Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud,
but humility comes before honour.

(20:14) “It’s no good, it’s no good” says the buyer,

then off he goes and boasts about his purchase.

(20:17) Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to man,
but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel.

(21:6) A fortune made by a lying tongue,
is a fleeting vapour and a deadly snare.

[grassfarmer]

I read this piece a month ago in the Alberta Beef Mag was it? I thought it a rather pompous piece of nonsense that failed to address some real issues. Oh yes we are real "efficient" in North America with our feedlots and huge numbers - read the comment in another thread that mentions again that the average feedlot profit in the last 20 years was $0 per head and tell me how smart the feedlots are. Europe can already get as much cheap beef as they want from South America and they won't displace their home grown quality product with that of North American beef - why should they, believe it or not most consumers have a pride and dedication to their own nationalities beef. Taking a stroll through the meat store whilst on holiday may prove interesting but it isn't very scientific. Do you think the EU beef farmer gets a large chunk of the retail beef price the consumer pays? Of course he doesn't - there is a retailing cartel in Europe just as powerful as your packer cartel in Canada. Instead of dreaming about all the high price market places we could sell our super efficiently produced beef into we should concentrate on getting a fair return for the beef producer from our current marketplace. If the "industry" was to be successful and get more Canadian beef into Europe how would it help Canadian ranchers and feedlot owners with the current packer cartel setting prices where they want them? It would no doubt be heralded as a great success by the ABP though.

[Willowcreek]

How right you are grassfarmer, about the meat cartels in Europe.. And if you look many of those corporations and companies that make up that cartel are just subsidiaries or subdivisions of the same ones that are operating in the US and Canada...The Tysons, Cargils, Hormels, etal...

[grassfarmer]

Er.. no, in my experience the cartels in Europe are largely at the retailing level rather than the processing one. Cargil and Tyson are unknown to the average EU beef producer... mention Tesco though and you will learn all about a ruthless player.

[Willowcreek]

Well in many of the cases, if you dig a little the owners/corporation behind many of of the British and European companies are the same as the US/Canadian..Just operate under different company names..

Just like both Swift and Cargill own many slaughter houses in Australia- but not all under eithers Corporate name...

[farmers_son]

Check out:

http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=253#shareholder

Tesco is a publicly traded company with widely held shares. Yes big business, whether Cargill, Swifts, Tesco or others will use their market power to extract a profit on both the supply and the market side whenever and wherever they can. The problem comes in when they gain so much power that they operate as monopolies. The free enterprise system cannot and does function with monopolies. Cargill, Tesco and their ilk are just doing what government is allowing them to do.

Efficient....It is not a matter of producers being efficient any more, maybe in the 1950s but not today. Today it is a question of whether the primary producer can extract a fair return from the marketplace or will all the benefits of food production go to others further up the supply chain. Today it is a matter of being competitive and by that I mean being able to extract a profit from the marketplace, not just producing the product cheaper.

The EU is a major importer of beef. Mostly from South America as Grassfarmer pointed out. However the U.S. is the world's number one importer of beef and Canada will remain the supplier of choice to the U.S. market. Industry officials are predicting that rule 2 will come into effect mid 2007.

I do agree that beef is the most political food in the world. The real beef sales take place in the halls of government.