U.S. Wheat Associates

[wilagro]

OUR grain Co-operatives are DEAD. Kaput...gone...sold out to corps like ADM to get financing because of piss poor management in the past.

Maybe Tom4CWB (who isn't for CWB), will revive the old Wheat Pools. Actually , it would be a damned smart move.

[cottonpicken]

Slightly unrelated

Weyhauser just gobbled up domtar
thanks to us lumber tariffs
what good buddies we have down south

[wmoebis]

Maybe so!
Reinvent the wheel.

In all the CWB discussions this is the first time I have herd of this co-op movement. Puts a new spin on things.

Is this a marketing co-op, handling co-op or how does everyone see it running?

[farmers_son]

I am very glad to see our industry stand up for our producers on this issue. It is not a matter of scared to label, no one in Canada has any problem with voluntary labeling.

I think Haney hit the nail on the head “"[Mandatory] Country of Origin Labeling in retail is a form of interruptive access," said Ted Haney, president of the Canadian Beef Export Federation, or CBEF. "It's not designed for health, it's not designed for food safety ... it is designed solely to force identification of non-U.S. products to U.S. consumers." Actually he is being a little too kind. It is designed to restrict access of non-US cattle and beef to the US market and that includes Canada and Mexico, NAFTA partners with the United States.

I wholeheartedly agree “Such rules, if adopted, would have serious ramifications on the amount of beef and cattle Canada exports to the U.S., according to industry officials.”

I noted the comment “Rice said another key problem with COOL is that it will represent an additional financial burden on retailers and wholesalers in the U.S. and Canada. "Retailers in both countries, from what we know, have not found that COOL will provide any benefit, or that consumers in the U.S. will even embrace the idea once there is an increased cost involved," Rice said. Haney agreed, noting that the CBEF has also heard mixed messages coming from the different sectors in the U.S., with most not supportive of the program. "These U.S. outlets do not view this program as a demand-enhancing tool, but rather one that will increase cost," Haney said. "This means that the cost will eventually be transferred back down to U.S. cattle producers." Right on!

But enough with facts and logical reasoning. We frankly do not have to try and reason with those people south of the border any more. Our American friends and lawmakers will need to give long and serious thought to how committed they are to free trade between our two countries. Canada is a new world power in energy with Alberta being home to the largest reserves of oil in the world. I will let the Americans do the math.

From an Alberta cattle producers view I feel like paraphrasing Ralph Klein and saying those American bastards can freeze in the dark. I see a bumper sticker in that somewhere. Now I personally see the advantages of trade between our two countries but the Americans need to see it too. From a Canadian point of view, MCOOL is not trade friendly. Enough said.

[stubblejumper]

Tom FNA is not a co-operative in any way they are a chem and fertilizer company.

[wedino]

Wil, ""because of piss poor management in the past.""

I have to ask you, who is management responsible to? I say they are responsible to & report to the board of directors. The board of directors are the reason ""OUR grain Co-operatives are DEAD.""(your wording) I've said before & I'll say it again, The farmer directors broke the SWP, farmers weren't capable of running it.

[rkaiser]

And from a realist view - Americans are not bastards. American multinational companies are something worse. All about control farmers_son. Read the book.

[kato]

I heard on the news last week that Canada provides the U.S. with 50% of it's energy.

I guess it's not appreciated eh? I bet it's not even known.

According to the Energy Information Administration, Canada and Mexico, the other pieces of the Free Trade Agreement, are a little more important than some would have us think.

"EIA forecasts that the United States will have total net oil imports (crude and products) of 12.2 million bbl/d during 2005, representing around 58 percent of total U.S. oil demand. Overall, the top suppliers of crude oil to the United States during January-August 2005 were Canada (1.6 million bbl/d), Mexico (1.6 million bbl/d), Saudi Arabia (1.5 million bbl/d), Venezuela (1.3 million bbl/d), and Nigeria (1.0 million bbl/d)."

note: bbl/d means barrels per day. That's a lot of oil.

[kato]

I didn't include the electric power, coal, or other forms of energy.

[winwin]

However,the state DOES have a place in the GRANARIES of the nation.It is there that Rosie,Agstar etc can really live out there BONDAGE fantasies.

Imagine;the chains,the whips,leather.I've seen farmers coming into courtrooms all chains top to bottom.I'll bet cotten is a DOMINATRIX like me,oral abuse and all.

Be still your heart,Vader,thinking about Andy Mcmechan going through 57 cavity searches.I know where you power types are really (coming) from.

[Willowcreek]

Thanks to USDA's lack of concern for US consumers and the safety/longterm economic vitality of the US cattle herd, Canada is riding on the shirttails of the industry the US cattleman built...

I can see why Canadians oppose M-COOL when you have to ship 85% of your export beef to the US and get the USDA label so it can be passed off as US beef in order to sell it....

If Rule 2 goes into effect, how much of Canadas export beef will have to go to the US, be relabeled with a USDA inspected stamp and passed off as US product, in order to get someone to buy it? 99.9%???????????

Sad day when Canadian cattlemen have come to the point they have to support the multinationals use of fraud and deceit to market their product- just so they can stick a few more illicit bucks in their pocket!!!!!!

[agstar77]

All the information on the Algeria file has been sent to Obermeister Strahl's office. Let's see if he can come clean and stop spouting the line of our U.S. buddies.