CWB (revamped CWB)

[PentaManitoba]

I am in favour of an evolving CWB. I want to do my own price discovery as I strictly take sell signal from Technical Analysis and am not a real believer in the POOL, but I want to do it through a farmer owned global marketing agency like the CWB. I do think that there is a place for the CWB. I am in favour of the changes the CWB has made (fixed price contracts) and hope they will provide more flexibility to the producer going forward. The global market place is fierce. Where I have reservations in dismantling the CWB is like former Minister of Agriculture Eugene Whelan said: "it takes far longer to build something than destroy it"! Having owned farms in Quebec and Ontario in the past I like the SOLIDARITY approach that Quebec Farmers have as they have very successful marketing agencies in many more commodities than any other province. I don't like the Feds sledge hammer approach! As farmers we deal with the largest corporations in the world and recent nitrogen price increases are a case in point that the last drop of blood is sucked out of the farmer. There is no other reason for nitrogen to be priced where it's at with current relatively low natural gas prices. It is strictly DEMAND driven! We as farmers should organize ourselves more not less in terms of buying inputs as well as marketing grain jointly! We should be doing it without the input of the Federal Government. The CAIS program is so ill-conceived it shows that you can't build something "over the weekend"!!

[parsley]

Eugene Whelan also said eating beef makes you ferocious.
Parsley

[kamichel]

You have the exact same post word for word as BernardManitoba in Farms.com . I'll take it you are the same person. Sorry but you sound a bit like a fear mongering CWB employee. Do you believe that all western farmers should be forced to sell through the CWB? If farmers get together how would we affect the price of N fertilizer?

[PentaManitoba]

this is the same person. I actually live in Ontario and farm in Manitoba. I just feel farmers that work together have more clout! Some of the best run marketing boards and largest and most successful co-ops happen to be in Quebec(i.e Agropur, the largest and most profitable co-op in Canada). They were also the only farmers in this country that were able to negotiate floor pricing support for beef during the BSE crisis from the Quebec government because they are extremely well organized. As far as the nitrogen price goes group buying will get you better discounts that all!

[bgmb]

PentaManitoba

In regards to your statement:
There is no other reason for nitrogen to be priced where it's at with current relatively low natural gas prices. It is strictly DEMAND driven!

You say it like there should be some other all powerful factor besides SUPPLY AND Demand that influences the price of fertilizer.

Why do you think canola has increased in value by $80/tonne since harvest. Now we as farmers are making very high profits on our canola, probably higher than some think we should all because of supply and demand.
Maybe the government should step in and make us lower our prices to protect users of our product. I DON'T THINK SO!
Therefore the fertilizer industry should be left alone it will regulate itself.

And as for the CWB and their so called marketing options, they are a joke.
We have a fixed price contract with a mysterious basis that in now way follows the premium on the west coast (which is determined by supply and demand). Instead the basis follows the pool. This year when the CWB in it's infinite wisdom sold our grain too early in a rising market they were forced to fade the basis on the FPC in order to mask the poor performance of the pool.

If you are counting on the CWB to deliver you marketing choice within it's bureaucratic self preserving culture you will be sadly mistaken.

I am afraid the days when the CWB worked for farmers and was actually in touch with what real farmers wanted are long gone. We need change, we need the market opened up.

[PentaManitoba]

you know quite frankly I don't really care what you do with the CWB. My message is basically that farmers should work together more not less in whatever form that is remains to be seen. ...and maybe I am wrong about the CWB. I have only farmed in Manitoba for 5 years, But I do know that working together get you farther and creating a new organization is a tall order, but maybe it's worth it!! Happy farming and don't take life too seriously!!

[bgmb]

I don't think we in western Canada want to follow the quebec 12 cow dairy model. In where we make our money off the backs of others. This approach is fine for the producer in the short term but is not sustainable in the long term. What i am advocating is a free and open market at all levels of the supply chain where the most efficient, profitable and best run operations survive. No other model is sustainable in the long run.

[PentaManitoba]

maybe you should take a trip to Quebec and maybe you should educate yourself on the "open & free markets" and how these open and free markets actually operate! I am not going to worry about it! In the very long run things always revert back to the mean as manipulation is not sustainable forever as you quite rightly pointed out! T

[kamichel]

Working together is a good thing. I am part of co-ops , new gen co-ops hog barn, credit unions, investor in ethanol feedlot plant, FNA member, now just a tiny SWP shareholder thanks to the last CEO. Hoping that the Pool does not succede in taking over Agricore United because of the current competion is good for my farm.
Some farmers work together to be able to purchase the latest technology and newest farm equipment. If I ask a new fuel supplier for a price on fuel the first question is how much will I use in a year. I know I purchase N for less than some other smaller producers. So yes working together has many advantages. Now consumers are wanting more organic, less chemicals and local produce so that is in my opinion a market that smaller producers can pay attention to. When I purchase a side of beef I know where the cow came from. Some large producers here are realizing more now that bigger is not neccessarilly better because there is crop left in the fields here due mainly to no hired help availlable. I think the board is a middle man that we don't need anymore. Farmers are selling grain differently today than 50 years ago when they took everything to the local ellevator. Our economy is changing to more value added and the board will find themselves obsolete in time anyway.

[PentaManitoba]

I like your attitude and you have some very good points! Markets are continually evolving and I agree the answers of 50 yrs ago are not necessarily the correct answers for today. So, yes our ways of marketing have to evolve also. I like to work with people that have the ability to bring out the positive! have a great day!

[bgmb]

I've been to Quebec, farming is different there. Farms generally are very small and highly subsidized much like they are western Europe.
I bought excellent wines and cheeses directly from farmers while in Quebec. I commend those farmers who are producing an excellent product and marketing it directly to the consumer. I suspect they are contributing to the economy unlike most of the farms in the region.

I %100 agree with you guys when you say working together has benefits to producers. I think the key is to keep it small scale. Once these groups get to large (SWP, FNA, CWB) they become to political and to concerned with self preservation and they no longer work for the farmer.

[northfarmer]

good point BPMG, while i strongly support choice in marketing, i do support working with other farmers and am a member of several coops....and in the realm of a choice market I will look at a vountary pool and voluntary strategic partnerships with other like minded producers to better access markets and customers.....kind of like the rest of the business world....

large beuracracies that are not performance driven or compensated become woefully inefficent and unresponsive, i agree that their primary concern becomes their own self preservation.....way too political and and not market driven...

in any event, whether board stays or not, lets say we put a new salary model and bonus structure together that pays them on financial performance, their ability to get as much cash to the farmers as fast as possible, and total net return to farmers, benchmarked and arbritraged to global and domestic and continental markets