Why are Countries coming to CWB Defence?

[SASKFARMER3]

It just amazed me how some of our major grain buyers (warbiton China Etc) have come to the CWB Defence and are shocked that Canada is thinking of Dismantling it.
HA lets see on the warbiton contract profit is what .10 cents a bushel yet we as farmers have to jump though a bunch of hoops just to get them a product that is no different than my AC Barrie next door just I am not a hoop jumper. Warbiton pays pennies for this service thought the CWB.
China a communist country is worried wow NO COMMENT Ill just leave that alone. Then their is the Liberals who are really worried about Votes and keeping the Millers happy in Eastern Canada.
So in conclusion if all these Byers of wheat are worried doesn't any one else but me feel that maybe we as grain farmers have been fleeced for way to long. Simply if I am getting a really cheap deal on some Chemical compared to all my neighbors (20% cheaper) I shut my mouth.
Seems that the grain trade is changing and changing fast and it looks like the end users of cheap grain for food are going to get the biggest surprise.

[Incognito]

Because the CWB phoned them and asked them to write letters they could take to Parliment. Warburtons = 250,000 MT of wheat from 650 - 750 farmers. What is different from the Warburton catchment area than someone that lives 5 miles from the U.S. border? Ask yourself this one question:

If the buyers representing those letters were paying $10.00 to $15.00 a tonne OVER the market as the CWB would like you to believe, do you really think they would be rallying around the President of the CWB? NOT...they would be sending donations to help with the severance.

[peaqueen]

Lol
The defenders of the CWB overseas actually do little to set at ease the feeling that the CWB works well for the buyers, and the system.

Locally the elevator agents are encouraging the maintenance of the CWB, no doubt getting couching from above.

You are right, Incognito if the buyers were paying too much they would not so quickly line up to protest.

[Vader]

And if the customers lined up and said they had a poor relationship with the CWB that would also add fuel to the fire and support the anti wheat board arguments.

[Incognito]

IF they thought that, Vader, they are not your customers - they are buying elsewhere. They have that right to CHOOSE where they go.

Maybe thats why only 80% of Series A was accepted.

[TOM4CWB]

Vader,

The "sky is falling" cry being distributed by the CWB management is counter productive in every way possible.

THE behaviour of our CWB President is unprofessional, disrespectful, and leaves the gov. no choice.

The good will the CWB has burnt up in the last month is more than many could earn in a life time. It was purchased with growers hard earned sweat... to be thrown to the wind by the CWB "single desk" mantra:

"We can't survive without the right to confiscate growers grain at less than fair market value."

Does anyone at 423 Main realise how this looks to the rest of the world?

[parsley]

"warbiton contract profit is what .10 cents a bushel"


A lot of " what-iffs" here!

What if the hand-picked farmer participants actually pocket $4.00/bushel.

What if each grower is subsidized $3.90/bu. from the general pooling accounts.

Because there is zero accountability,
all kinds of wizardry can be done to make CWB selling look good.
Parsley

[silverback]

If the palms are getting greased, it is amazing how "positive" the relationships can be.

I would write letters too if I knew I was getting something extra from the board.

[parsley]

Not me.

It's a little like taking in a snake for a roomate. It's not worth the trouble, even if they initially slip you a little cash in hand.

Sooner or later, you have a basement full, and you can't get rid of them.

[AdamSmith]

A National Post Editorial on Friday Dec15.

Just whose Wheat Board is it?
Earlier this week, the Canadian Wheat Board struck another blow in what federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl has called a “campaign of fear” against freedom for Western farmers to sell their wheat and barley to the highest international bidder. The Minister has threatened to sack board CEO Adrian Measner, who stands accused of using CWB resources to oppose Conservative plans for the board and support the Liberal “single desk” stance. Mr. Measner has remained defiant, and on Tuesday the CWB responded to Mr. Strahl’s threats by posting a number of “customer letters of concern” about the board’s future on its Web site. In other words, the board’s response to accusations of political campaigning was to ... step up its political campaigning. It’s not hard to see where this battle is going to end.


But in our eternal passion to reduce everything to a contest of personalities, the press has perhaps not paid sufficient attention to the actual content of the “letters of concern.” They come from representatives of buyers like COFCO, the largest Chinese state grain purchaser, andWarburtons, a major English-based seller of baked goods in Europe. All express great personal admiration for Mr. Measner and convey the fond hope that Canadian wheat will continue to be sold to the world through a single exporter.


Stop for a minute, especially if you’re a farmer, and think about how bizarre this is. The Wheat Board has always justified its existence by claiming it gets the best possible deal for the seller. Yet the moment the CEO’s job is threatened, a clamour of complaint arises — from the buyers. And the CWB goes out of its way to advertise it!


For farmers this might conceivably raise the question of whose interests the board is supposed to be serving — those of European, Asian and African customers, or those ofWestern farmers. By the CWB’s own logic, it cannot be both.


Yes, single-desk marketing can hypothetically serve both parties by keeping the board’s middleman expenses low, but that has never been the board’s only claim. It has always boasted that its monopoly power enables it to drive harder bargains for Canadian farmers. If that isn’t the case, then there is no reason for a monopoly. If the board truly delivers lower marketing expenses and commands at least the same sale prices as private grain dealers, why should it be reluctant to compete with anybody at the farm gate?


Western farmers could always choose to believe that the Chinese government has their best interests at heart when it supports the CWB and Mr. Measner. And they could choose to find nothing suspicious about the warmth (and timeliness) with which foreign companies and agencies defend the CEO who is supposed to be protecting Canadian farmer interests in the world market.


The Chinese say they have always “enjoyed [their] excellent business partnership” with Mr. Measner. Asian buyer Prima finds him “highly professional and very proficient.” Mexican mega-miller Grupo Altex prays that he will be retained for his “experience and leadership.” If it is appropriate for Canadian agricultural policy to be set by these benign entities, instead of by an elected Canadian Minister of Agriculture, then Mr. Measner should certainly remain in his job. Otherwise, the “letters of concern” are irrelevant to the question— at best.