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Contingency Fund Fox-trot

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    #11
    Evader:
    Interest from the feed barley pool was diverted into the contingency fund in 01-02, then again in 02-03.

    Big numbers too.

    01-02 saw $130.85 per tonne (just over $7 million) diverted to the C-Fund.

    02-03 saw $127.89 per tonne (just over $5 million) diverted to the C-fund.

    According to the 01-02 CWB Annual report, "This was done to avoid distorting the price relationship between feed and designated barley."

    Gotta admit that there was some logic to this - the CWB couldn't have left that amount of money in the pool - the price would've been so terribly out of whack. I can see that. But it shows just how bad the pool account is at providing price signals. It's dysfunctional.

    But I'm wondering about the logic in latter years. Take Pool A of 04-05 for example. Total interest "earnings" allocated to Pool A was $85.55 per tonne, but $51.34 per tonne was diverted to the C-Fund, leaving $34.21 per tonne in the pool account.

    That's much more interest than usually left in the pool account - typically it's been less than $10 per tonne, even when the CWB diverted interest out before.

    But Pool B is even stranger.

    Total interest allocated to the B Pool was $4.83 per tonne. $4.83 is quite small and can be argued has little if any distortion effect on the pool price.

    Here's the question: Why then did the CWB divert $1.69 per tonne (about $794,000) to the C-Fund, leaving $3.14 per tonne?

    Remember the original reason to divert money from the feed barley pool into the C-Fund was to avoid price distortions.

    Did the CWB think that $4.83 was distorting but $3.14 wasn't?

    Now fast forward to 04-05. Same kinda thing in Pool B.

    $10.60 allocated to feed barley - but $6.19 per tonne diverted to the C-Fund, leaving $4.41 in the pool account.

    Why divert anything at these levels? What is the current strategy or policy. There was no mention of it in the last couple of annual reports.

    Evader? Agstar77? Any comments?

    Comment


      #12
      Good questions chaffmeister.

      This $60M slush fund of farmers' money is doing the chicken-dance right now.

      Farmers should be mulling:

      WHO makes the decision to jig with $60M ?
      What determines the reason for jigging the $60M ?
      Who is accountable for losses in the $60M?

      Parsley

      Comment


        #13
        There is a simple explanation for why the contingency fund went to 60 Million. It is embarassing to the board when there is a surplus in the contingency fund accounts and that surplus has to be dumped into the pool accounts. By regulation excess over the cap must go to the pool accounts. Simple solution, raise the cap.What people need to complain about is the fact that we now want to turn this contingency fund into a backstop for all programs in the CWB. So on the surface dumping surplus into the pool accounts is embarassing but on the other hand if we can kind of cloud the issue then we can do the same thing but we can come up with a logical explanation of why that is alright to do that. The current path the board is following allows ample opportunity to manipulate the system to serve the end purpose. What goes out the door of any resemblance of an open and transparent system that treats all producers equally.

        Comment


          #14
          Craig,

          What was the original formal INTENT/PURPOSE of the contingency fund?

          Comment


            #15
            March 1, 2000

            CWB Board of Directors approve new payment option for farmers

            Contingency Fund

            A contingency fund will be established so that the fixed price program will have no impact upon the pool account. Although a surplus or deficit may occur in a given year, the contingency fund is expected to break even over the long term.


            Parsley - the sole ORIGINAL STATED purpose of the Contingency Fund was to provide a back-stop to the Fixed Price Contracts.

            The divergence of barley interest revenue was the first "divergence" from stated policy.

            Tough for the C-Fund to break even over the long term if you keep screwing farmers who choose PPOs and dumping barley interest revenue into it.

            Oh geez, that's sounded harsh....did I really say that out loud.....

            Comment


              #16
              Craig,

              Did you realise the Contingency fund dropped $4m to $44m instead of rising $10m as expected?

              What happened to CWB risk management to cause this $14m loss... this is the real question... as this is a massive loss on a small volume of grain!

              I find it sooo convienient that I can download 2004-05 just fine on the CWB website... but for days I can't open the 05-06 annual report. NICE.

              Comment


                #17
                chaff,

                I said "legal".

                This is about $60M.

                If the legal objective is either ignored/violated, what about accountability, are there not ramifications ?

                Parsley

                Comment


                  #18
                  Should be I meant legal

                  Comment

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