THE CWB AND ORGANIC GRAIN

[TOM4CWB]

Parsley,

I would say it has been much more than just talk.

Anyone can print these statements out, examine them carefully, and discover the truth.

The truth is what we are all looking for, and that is more than talk, I believe it is constructive, and can help make us better people, and make our country better too!!!

[parsley]

Another question for a revitalized Thalpenny. The CWB told organic farmers that the CWB legislation would not allow organic farmers out of the CWB "single desk" monopoly.

March 14, 1996 the CWB wrote: "To exempt organic grain which was grown on a certified organic farm from the CWB, the CWB Act would have to be changed."

March 2000, the CWB wrote: "If an exemption were presented as an option to organic farmers, it could not be done right away since there is no clause in the CWB legislation to allow an exemption and the legislation would therefore have to be amended."

There was no misunderstanding about exemption. The CWB defined "exemption:

"An exemption is usually taken to mean that.......private marketers would be given export licences at zero cost."

This was the same as the organic farmers asked for.

Thalpenny was this information given by the CWB to farmers correct or incorrect?

Looking forward to your answer,
Parsley

[AppMan]

Interesting thread.

I am an organic farmer. I find it interesting that the CWB seems to think they are there to assist or help. They seem to think they are the only people who know how to market out wheat and barley. Maybe they can sell boatloads at discounted prices but they sure can not sell containers at premiums.

In my markets they are the biggest single deterent on my farm. The buyback on my last sale to Belguim (in containers) was over 34% of my selling price.
I have no other single expense of this magnitude.

On another note. I had an interesting conversation with a North Dakota friend last week. He is on a National Growers organization (oilseeds) in the US and was on a trade mission to Tiawan. A comment he made to me, Boy those people over their sure hate your CWB. I immediately thought, I wonder if this is one of those wonderful trading relationships the CWB refers to when talking about their abilities in marketing our wheat and barley????

AppMan

[parsley]

Question for CWB Rules.......conventional grain cannot sell into the organic market. That market would be filled by another country if organic growers in Canada did not fill it Whatwas Ritter trying to say?

AppMan...you mean the people in Taiwan hate the CWB or the buyers in Taiwan hate the CWB?

Parsley

[AppMan]

The buyer, I don't think the general public in Tiawan would know who the CWB is.

[CWBRules]

parsley,

Wedino posted the original Ritter quote, it's near the top. I took the quote to mean that conventionaly grown grains are being sold as organic grains in the United States. As a result, the CWB feels justified in marketing organicly grown wheat. I believe that TOM4CWB backs the Ritter quote up.

I feel that the CWB's argument is very weak (I'm being kind here). Is the CWB justified in lowering the organic standards in Canada just because another Country seems to have lax regulations regarding organicly grown productions????

If the CWB has no intention of lowering the organic standards in Canada, then how is Ritter's statement justified?

The CWB expects organic wheat producers to market their production through them (buy backs, ect.), even though the CWB IS NOT MARKETING IT (is that called a paradox?????). It just boggles the mind.......that the CWB expects to recieve money for doing absolutley nothing-----that's communism for ya.


*CWBRules hears knock at door*

CWBRules, "who is it?
"it's CSIS errrr, I mean, delivery"
CWBRules, "I'm not expecting anything, but come on in."

*CWBRules then opens up the door, is tackled and hand cuffed*

CWBRules, "what's going on here???"
CSIS agent, "We're here to take you to the CWB Programming camp, the CWB read your 3 comments on the agri-ville.com board and they don't like it."
CWBRules, "Ya, but look at my nick, it's
pro CWB, do I still have to go?"
CSIS agent, "Yes I'm afraid you do sir. Since the CWB is not privy to the freedom of information act, they can pretty much do what ever the heck they want."

*CWBRules thinks, damn, the fun I could have if I ran the CWB*

[TOM4CWB]

CWBRULES,

I think the organic wheat and barley is in direct parallel to Pedigreed Seed if not even less of a concern to the CWB.

Pedigreed seed gets all the export licenses it needs, at 0 cost.

Pedigreed seed when shipped to the US makes 20 to 50 times more high Canadian quality type wheat, to then be sold in direct competition with CWB Canadian Wheat. At least Organic Wheat is just consumed, and doesn't come back the next year at harvest to be competition!

CWB logic is totally out to lunch, but they tell me they are right, and obviously this must mean that I am just a stupid farmer who has never marketed any wheat or barley in my life.

You see, only the CWB markets grain, all of us farmers are just price takers not price makers!

I wonder how many of us would still be farming, if this was actually a fact?

[parsley]

wedino, were you at the Weyburn meting? Can you translate a little more clearly what Ritter mean, if you were there?

Parsley

[wedino]

Parsley, Ken Ridder, at the supper meeting in Weyburn, stated "Regular grain is switched for & sold as organic grain in the USA & thereby competes with grain the CWB is marketing into USA"

This is what he said. I took it to mean that non organic grain was labeled & sold as organic grain.

[Vader]

It has been said that the CWB has discipline in its marketing and that discipline creates premium markets. One such premium market is the United States. The CWB feels that its marketing discipline has created premium prices in the United States and it is unfair for producers to "cherry pick" in the US market those premium prices.

Could anything be more ridiculous than for the CWB to claim that it is responsible for the higher prices that exist in the US.

Once you accept that the CWB is responsible for the premium prices in the US then all other logic flows from this mistaken assumption.

Yes Organic grain commands a premium over conventional grain. If the organic producer goes through the "buy back" then he will still be able to get the premium which organic grain commands over conventional. Through the "buy back" mechanism the CWB will extract the premium which the CWB has "created" over the domestic price.

All this makes perfect sense if you can swallow the "big lie" that the CWB single desk selling discipline "creates" higher prices in our so called "premium" markets. This might be true if the CWB had a selling monopoly and was the only marketer of wheat in world markets. However the truth is that the CWB only has a buying monopoly here in Canada and that does not give the CWB the ability to produce higher world prices. What the CWB buying monopoly does is to force Canadian producers to accept the average selling price for wheat sales into some 70 countries worldwide. The apparent reality of this system is net final payments to producers that appear to be consistently lower than the prices available to our neighbors to the south who do not have a "buying monopoly".

[TOM4CWB]

Vader,

Really all we are saying is that when we market through the CWB we agree that price cutting is our prefered method of selling grain.

How else can I take what the CWB does?

Why should China get wheat cheaper from me than the US or Europe?

China pays up for Canola, and makes domestic users of Canola pay more than they want to!

Why should we be forced to sell through this chaotic CWB system?