Marketing Recomedations for 2007-08

[TOM4CWB]

BennyHin, Mustardman, and Wilagro;

Will CWB "single desk" supporters take responsibility for forcing my wheat & Barley through their "single desk" and cut my family a cheque when the CWB messes up marketing and wrecks not just wheat and barley... but Canola and special crops as well?

If not, WHY NOT?

I note the following "single desk" supporters believe the following:

a) that the CWB is smart enough to know the future... that the future grain market can be predicted and manipulated... therefore a higher price can be attained by price discrimination and manipulation.

b) that the CWB has the right under the CWB Act to forward sell grain that hasn't been contracted to the CWB... or that has not even been grown, contracted, or priced by the grower through the CWB yet.

c) That the CWB has the right under the CWB Act to refuse the sale of grain that there is system capacity to get to market in an efficient manner... to manipulate and or distort global grain prices.

Since these assumptions are the base of "single desk" premiums... they must be compensated for when mismanaged!

It is not IF, but WHEN the CWB messes up our wheat and barley markets...

Which in turn forces selling and marketing decisions in non-board crops that would have been avoided had the CWB marketed in a manner that did maximise our returns...

ARE "SIngle DEsk" supporters going to cut my farm and family a cheque?

You need to compensate us for losses imposed upon us by your decision to force us into your back pocket.

2006-07 To start with; the excess $40/t cost of getting to the world market.

$100,000.00 would be a conservative small down payment... if the market does not rise! If the market rises... $500,000.00 will be closer. If the market drops... "single desk" market intelegence predicted this and it is my families rightful benefit.

It appears the CWB has already locked in lower prices... as when world top grade milling prices ended higher on the west coast over the past month... the CWB still lowered the PRO, and malt barley only went up $2/t when the Ausie PRO went up $8/t and was $70/t higher in the first place!

DO you folks think you can afford to make these decisions for my family and myself?

By the way....wh

[TOM4CWB]

Mustardman, those numbers are real good. Just think Durum would be #1 on your list if you could market it yourself!!!

[just_wondering]

Mustrdman
Using your real world #'s on the durum example are costs of storage included. Accepance levals have been brutal in the last few years.
There are ways around that but not if you are honest with the CWB.

[almoy]

In an open market situation with NO CWB do you believe everyone will be able to sell all the grain they grow at the time that they want to? Will elevator space and railroad sevice not limit what you can deliver? Will larger farmers get priority when it comes to room to deliver?

[silverback]

1) We can't deliver or even price all we may want to right now, so how could it be any worse?

2) I don't know where you live, but the big guys around here have always, I repeat always, gotten preferential treatment. I don't think that will ever change. It happens in every business in the entire world.

[almoy]

Silverback, where I live the big guys DO have prefered treatment and even they are saying that the end of the CWB means the end of smaller farmers as they will not be able to even market the grain they want. The space will be taken by the large farmers. This is already a problem with small farmers with special crops such as lentils when there is a large supply.

[silverback]

The cwb has never been able to slow the rate of consolidation on the prairies and never will.

If they can't even manage to get close to the world price in a year like this, then I have the feeling that they are speeding it up if anything.

[TOM4CWB]

ALmoy,

I think you really missed the point on marketing in a diversified innovation based system.

Container lots of wheat can be shipped by the same folks who ship special crops.

Specialty wheat and barley as in organics can fill markets the big shippers can't be bothered with! India used to be this way with pulse crops... now this is a major market.

There is much that could be done IF freedom were allowed to innovate markets. Our infrastructure is just waiting to fill the gap.

[melvill]

I'm going to hammer away at one of my favorite marketing tools - cost of production - COP.

I run into away too many producers who don't know what their COP is for each of their farm products. By COP I mean a price per bushel or per tonne or per pound based on average yields, that covers all the variable or cash costs, all the fixed costs and some or all of the family living costs, depending on how much off-farm income there is.

How can anyone make good marketing decisions - and the first marketing decision is deciding what to put in the drill box - without a carefully calculated COP based on the point I made above?

I know pencil farming isn't nearly as much fun as debating marketing policy bit I dare say it's more productive!! Tom or parsley, I'll duck if I see a missle coming from your directions. Grin.

[mustardman]

Melville, I totally agree on doing cop figures, actually great tool is Agexpert fieldmaster; great for what ifs and great aid in decision making; gives lots of good info;
It still surprises me that some producers are still looking at keeping their costs per acre down; when they should be looking at their costs per unit of production ( bus or lbs ) If not aware of cop you could end up with low costs per acre BUT a high cost per each bushel grown.