Will the CWB Ever Stop Pillaging Organics?

[gerald.d]

Chuck
Are you an organic farmer?

[chuckChuck]

The CWB is a whipping boy come lightning rod for those with a certian kind of political axe to grind. Primarily those who favour big business taking over the trade. If you are in favour of that then say so but don't pretend there is going to be a CWB left after Strahl and Harper are done. Parsley has made a career out of bashing the Board at every opportunity but says very little about other marketing issues. The issues of the CWB's involvement is up to the CWB and elected farmer directors to decide.

[Fransisco]

How very elitist. Other's should decide the fate of what parsley grow? I think not. And that has nothing to do with big business and everything to do with parsley's business.

[chuckChuck]

Francisco, so it is okay to have the elites of Wall street,Bay street,CBOT, and Minneapolis and Kansas City make decisions that affect our future but it is not okay for farmer elected directors at the CWB to make decisions on our behalf? Beween the above choices which group do you think most closely represents farmers Francisco?

[chuckChuck]

Chaff and Parsley: The issue of the CWB and organic comes down to the issue of whether you support family farms, orderly marketing, pooling and the single desk. If you don’t support those policies then you will find fault with the CWB’s handling of organic grains. You either believe in pooling and sharing the highs and the lows of the market or you don’t. All the organic markets are in the premium conventional markets. There hasn’t been an organic sale of organic wheat to China, Brazil, or Indonesia. The primary organic markets are the EU,Canada, US and Japan. Essentially Parsley is asking for organic farmers to be allowed to cherry pick the best conventional market prices without going through the Board’s pool account.
Further, the majority of the critics of the CWB don’t support orderly marketing and are generally pursuing their own self interest by saying they should decide how and when they market their wheat and it doesn’t matter what happens to the other guy. Everyone for themselves, dog eat dog or however you want to put it. The end result is that farms will continue to grow bigger and small family farms will become a thing of the past. As I said before, there is no economic reason why we need 50,000 farmers when a handfull of large farm corporations can do the job. If you support a market economy where there are no restrictions like the CWB then we should also get rid of the majority of the family farms, communities and the subsidies that keep them going.

[Fransisco]

Chuck that is a false choice.

The people you mention do not make decisions on my behalf. And they treat my decisions with respect.

The CWB directors do not treat me, my property, or my decisions with respect or even acknowledge that they are mine in the first place. The fact that they are elected by my neighbors makes absolutely no difference in any of this.

But since you yourself are such a big fan of deciding things by elections you must be really upset by the board of directors refusal to except the outcome of the barley plebiscite. And their refusal to heed the wishes of the majority.

[Fransisco]

And it is spelt 'between' not 'beween'.

[Fransisco]

See also[URL=" http://agriville.com/cgi-bin/forums/viewThread.cgi?1176312172"] this.[/URL]

[gregpet]

Fransisco, I hate to do this but you should have written accept not except.


Chuck you wrote:

“The end result is that farms will continue to grow bigger and small family farms will become a thing of the past.”

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe farms have been growing larger under the CWB. Just economics coming into play with the theory of economies of scale becoming reality under the CWB and the dismal return for most crops grown.

[gerald.d]

Chuck: You make some rather general statements there about if a guy does not want the present marketing structure ie. single desk selling, "orderly marketing" (I don't believe it's all that orderly as it is) then he does not support family farms. My family has been on this farm for over 100 years and I have a 25 year old son who is farming with me . .if you don't think I value a family farm you have learning to do.
I spent most of the day in Saskatoon at the CWB organic producer consultation meeting. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had not stacked the invitees with die-hard CWB supporters.There were more of us there who wanted change than not. The CWB people ( Donna Youngdahl and Gord Kurbis) and the moderator Brian White (former CWB grain marketer) put forward for our consideration and discussion 4 options .
1.
Get the CWB fully involved in marketing organic wheat and barley with full participation in the pool and PDS buybacks.
This was NOT a popular option!! They spent much time extoling the virtues of this sort of idea but eventually had to accept the fact that the majority simply wanted nothing to do with such a scheme.
2.
Pool the PDS spread payments from organic PDS contracts seperately from the conventional pool and thereby at least return the net back to organic producers.
This option was also met with much resistance.They were told time and time again that the whole PDS system as it relates to organics is just rediculous.Several of us had copies of actual PDS contracts showing large amounts of money owing to the CWB for what is perceived as no value. They were hard pressed to try and justify the amounts.Only Stewart Wells said that he thought these amounts were an acceptable part of selling organic grain. He did not reach for his cheque book when I asked him to pay the nearly $50,000.00 that I will owe the CWB by Jan.08 when this years pools have closed. I guess he felt that I had received good value so I should just pay it and be happy to support the rest of the farmers who all share in th pool. Mighty big of him to be so generous with my money!
3.
Flat rate PDS.
This option would see us pay a flat fee per tonne to the CWB for "intrinsic value" that is supposed to exist because the CWB has spent years developing markets and promoting Canadian wheat and barley in foreign countries.This is alleged to be reflected in the prices that we get for our organic grains.
There was some debate about how much the fee might be and who would get to decide how much.It was suggested that perhaps the amount would vary from country to country depending upon how much the CWB thinks they have influenced the pricing of grain in that country,and you guessed it, the CWB gets to decide how much.
This option was also received with some scepticism but not dwelled upon because by that time we were all(well most of us) anxious to hear about option #4 and it was getting close to lunch time and we had not yet heard about an option Not to use the CWB.
4.
Exemption,Free export license.
This was popular with many of us but the CWB people did their best to point out why this was not appealing-
a. organic producers would be getting a free ride on the backs of the conventional producers who fund the variety research and trade dispute actions and lobby efforts to keep GMO wheat out of the market. This last one brought a -- disagreement-- from Arnold Taylor who quickly riminder CWB staff about how much conventional growers have benefited from the actions and financial expenditures from the organic community.
b.
A precident would be established for the CWB allowing "special interest" groups out of the CWB.
We told them that no more so than is already granted to producers in ontario and quebec.
And they had more reasons but my writing could not keep up and I can't remember them, but many of us felt that they were not insurmountable given a will to do so. But therein lies the rub.
This whole process was only to get producer input and then be assembled and be presented to the CWB board of directors for consideration. Only time will tell what is done with it.

[Fransisco]

I was wondering how long it was going to take for someone to catch one of my spelling or grammatical mistakes. I do make them from time to time. Thanks gregpet, criticism <b>ACCEPTED.</b>

[gregpet]

Fransisco, I wish the CWB was as receptive to crticism and willing to work with the majority to improve the situation.