AIC Study Innovation in Farming

[charliep]

Found the following interesting in my scan of the news this AM.

FEBRUARY 5, 2007 - 06:00 ET

AIC Releases Study: Innovation in Farming

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - Feb. 5, 2007) - For the first time, how a farm markets its products is more important than how it produces them, according to a new study released today by the Agricultural Institute of Canada (AIC).

The report, entitled "Sustaining Agriculture in Canada through Innovation and Diversity", was prepared for the AIC by Saskatchewan Agrivision Corporation to start an informed debate on redefining and sustaining agriculture in Canada. The study's major finding is that farmers who focus on innovation and diversification in both marketing and production at the farm level actually improve profitability.

"Leading farmers are good communicators and look to develop relationships that will assist them in improving their business and its profitability," said AIC President Dale Kelly. "They recognize how competitive the industry is and search for strategies, partnerships, and advantages to remain profitable."

Those strategies and common practices of top farmers include:

- The development of new business models;

- Their direct approach to better understanding the needs of the marketplace; and

- Their approach to innovation and diversification.

The AIC's previous study "Big Farms, Small Farms," found that farm size is no longer a factor in net profitability. Without farm profitability, many farm families continue to seek off-farm employment to subsidize operations, which in turn reduces time available for the farm business.

http://www.ccnmatthews.com/news/releases/show.jsp?action=showRelease&searchString=food&sear chText=true&showText=all&actionFor=633901

[TOM4CWB]

Charlie,
A copy of the study is @
http://www.aic.ca/whatsnew_docs/AIC%20News%20Release%20%2D%20discussion%20paper%20 Feb%2005%2E07%2Epdf

[TOM4CWB]

CHarlie,

This off the Agrivantage Discussion Board:Moving from a price-taker to a price-maker invloves a change in perception.

It is often said that the three most important factors in changing your reality are attitude, attitude and attitude!

To quote John Maynard Keynes “the hardest thing is not to get people to accept new ideas, it is to get them to forget old ones.”

http://www.agrivision.ca/forums/index.php?showtopic=7

[parsley]

The Leader-Post (Regina)
6 February, 2007

Letters
Thomas Hewson


'Soft landing' for wheat board?


The Leader-Post has given considerable coverage to the coming vote by farmers on Canadian Wheat Board powers.

In particular, the marketing choice option has come under fire. Critics claim that the three-part question is an attempt by federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl and the Harper government to dupe farmers.

The Western Barley Growers Association disagrees, and supports the choice of questions.

When we talk to wheat and barley growers, we hear two things:
- A desire to keep the CWB around in some form, and;
- Disgust at selling grain through the board at below world prices.

Farmers themselves want to be able to vote for the marketing choice option. Government is ultimately responsible for CWB powers, taking into consideration farmers' wishes.

There is going to be increased pressure on any government to end the single-desk marketing monopoly.

The past government took the first step toward that by agreeing to allow it on the table at World Trade Organization talks.

Greater farmer participation in value-chain relationships does not bode well for the monopoly.

A voluntary marketing agency may well have more life expectancy than a single-desk CWB.

Farmers who support the marketing choice option may not be as dumb as they seem to some critics.

Many remember the end of the Crow transportation subsidies. Ralph Goodale, who was federal agriculture minister at the time, finally had to act in what he thought to be the best interests of all farmers and all Canadians.

Many of us feel that Prairie grain growers lost out by not agreeing sooner to change.

Farmers may not be prepared to vote for it directly, but they see the end coming for the single-desk monopoly.

Supporters admit as much when they say there is no going back. Marketing choice support is saying that we want a soft landing in any end to the monopoly.

Thomas Hewson, Langbank
Hewson is vice-president of the Western Barley Growers Association.

[parsley]

FYI


The Leader-Post (Regina)
February 7, 2007
Letter to the Editor

by David Anderson

Vision for CWB


Contrary to the assertion by the president of the National Farmers Union, Stewart Wells, ("Exercise of deep psychological manipulation", Leader-Post Letters, Feb. 3)., the government's task force did not say a dual market was impossible.

It said that a voluntary Canadian Wheat Board cannot also have a monopoly.

This is Sesame Street-level economics -- "one of these things is not like the other" -- why is Wells having so much trouble with it?

The task force's report was clear: marketing choice is another term for dual marketing. They were clarifying the concept of a voluntary CWB, not denigrating it.

Producers will find there are three choices on their barley ballot. The reason is simple: there are three viable options.

While some growers have expressed concern over whether the CWB can survive as a voluntary barley marketing agency, they need not.

The CWB has successfully done this before.

In the summer of 1993, farmers were free to market their barley directly to the U.S. or through the CWB. The CWB made a number of changes and successfully participated in the market.

The Conservative party believes that today's farmers are intelligent businessmen, capable of making their own marketing decisions.

They freely and successfully market their oats, flax, rye, canola, beans, lentils, canary seed and more, both domestically and abroad. Why should they be prevented from doing the same with their wheat and barley?

We are proposing that Western Canadian grain farmers be given the freedom to choose how they market their grain while preserving a strong, viable, voluntary Canadian Wheat Board.

This would retain a pooling approach to marketing for those who prefer it, while allowing flexibility for farmers who want to explore other marketing options.

I encourage your readers who want more information to go to my Web site at www.davidanderson.ca and click on "The Truth About Marketing Choice".


David Anderson

Anderson is the Conservative MP for Cypress Hills-Grasslands riding, and Parliamentary secretary (for the Canadian Wheat Board) to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

[parsley]

FYI


Notice to media

MINISTER STRAHL TO ADDRESS THE WESTERN BARLEY GROWERS AND WESTERN CANADIAN WHEAT GROWERS AT ANNUAL CONVENTION

February 6, 2007 – Airdrie, AB – The Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board, will be in Calgary on Friday, February 16, to speak at the Western Barley Growers Association and Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association joint-convention which runs February 14, 15 and 16th.

Honourable Strahl will be speaking about “Agriculture’s Changing Landscape” - Choice Marketing.

Minister Strahl will be available to speak to media following the announcement.