Canadian Fair Trade Ag Produce

[TOM4CWB]

Agstar77,

OK,

What do you call the $50m lost because the CWB sold malt barley they didn't have growers agreement to sell... at below the cost of production?

I would call it a death wish... you call it branding?

[TOM4CWB]

What would you call going to court to extract $50m out of barley growers at less than cost of production and against their better judgement... fair trade Agstar77?

[parsley]

The word ORGANIC was branding.

Consumers embraced it.

The CWB wants to steal it.


Parsley

[parsley]

BTW, agastar, your comment, "a better goal would be" means here you go again! agstar knows best. Your goal.

Here we have orgnaic farmers making good dollars from willing consumers and you want a different goal.

You need to produce a show called
"Agstar knows Best" so we can all sit back and have a laugh.

If it wasn't so sad.

Parsley

[sawfly]

tom i commend you on your post.
fair trade is an excelent idea.
while farmers in this country
get shafted the same way they do in the poorer countries , at least we can
quit, change jobs or have some gov. support.
their choice is take what they get or starve.
if we don't have a conscience about their plight, why should anyone care about ours.

It would be nice if you bought a 10$ shirt , that you could pay 10.25 and know that the 25 cents ended up in the workers hands. and not in a beach house in malibu.

[TOM4CWB]

Thanks Sawfly!

If anyone wants to take a stab at it; what are farm gate prices that would be "Fair Trade" acceptable?

THis thread is getting a little long... perhaps someone else can work on another one.

I believe that a gross per acre on our farm of $330 for wheat is fair, with an average yield we normally produce non-organic:

CWRS #2 13.5 = 55 / $325/ac = 6/bu

1 Can Canola = 35 / $350/ac = $10/bu

Barley #1 = 80 / $320/ac = $4/bu

[grassfarmer]

Parsley, How convincing an argument do I need to make? If folks prefer to stick their fingers in their ears and sing "la,la,la,cwb-evil,la,la,la" they aren't going to hear it anyway.This thread needn't have been just another anti-cwb one anyway as it started on a valid topic.
Anyway the things you describe about individualism and standing back from the pack pretty well describe what I'm doing - I'm a cattle producer running a breed association of a breed most have never heard of because I believe they have the economically viable traits that most "commodity" breeds lack.
I agree that individual farmers themselves know what is best for their individual farms. We have different cattle, we manage them totally different to the average producer and we are building a high margin marketplace for their beef through direct marketing.

I am that person you describe standing apart from the crowd AND I'm an NFU member and there is nothing incompatible about the two. The NFU does not seek to control anything I do as an independent businessman.

[silverback]

So agstar knows best about which tractor brand we should be buying as well?

Anyone who doesn't have red equipment is just stupid?

Let me think, how many tractor choices were there in the old soviet union? Combines?

What kind of marketing system did they have?

Hmmmmmmmm... maybe RedStar77 would be a better handle?

[agstar77]

So you think branding food organic that is no better nutritionally or purer , but more expensive,is better than cleaning up the enviroment? You really are out for the money. Do you really think the disadvantaged can afford your Branded produce or only the Yuppies? Most of the unwanted substances in all food are a product of our modern culture not the fertilizer or pesticides we use. So until you stop driving your vehicle and using all the junk we don't need don't tell me that Organic labelling will make a difference.

[parsley]

I find your reasoning ability consistently lacking reason.

Organics has always been about:

1. Marketing locally produced food.
2. Growing what the consumer wants to eat.
3. Getting more money from the consumer into the farmer's pocket.
4. Being environmentally conscious.
5. Value-adding in our communities
6. Standing behind our product 100%, with our names on our bags and an audit trail to boot.

If you don't like the goods, please don't buy them agstar. You are fortunate to have that choice.

I would suggest that you concentrate on what you do best.

I can't seem to recall what your best is....


Oh, yes, whining, berating, and trying to claim organics was the CWB's idea.

Right.

Parsley

[TOM4CWB]

Agstar77,

JUST How do you think the water and air get poluted in the first place?

As I clearly stated, conserving energy and preserving our environment are goals we spend cash on every day... Balance my friend... Balance.

Clearly the CWB ran until 1993 without putting anyone in jail or stopping farmers from an independant opportunity to return a premium gained by hard work, risk, and individual initiative. The CWB is going to reward Organic Growers with a partial reprieve by charging $5/t instead of $20-50/t for export licenses.

We all know this did nothing to create a "fair trade" price for our grain, as this was not an objective worthy of discussion when I brought it up.

I was told By CWB Managers that buyers could care less what we got.

I don't believe this is reality for a mili-second... people of integrity work on the principal that a deal is only a good deal... if it is good for both sides! Taking the export risk premium of $20-50/t away from growers with initiative... stopped the trade for the most part, did not keep the price up, and added an insignificant amount to the pool accounts.

A failure on all sides to attaining a "fair trade" price for our grain.

Now, Agstar77, how do we get the CWB on track, and make it a "Fair Trade" based organisation?

[agstar77]

Nice platitudes , but I see you really never denied anything I said about organics. I never mentioned the big bad bogeyman on Main St.