Ritz Budget

[agstar77]

Ag minister plans to dole out 500 million to modernize us. The first 100 will go to employ civil servants.

[silverback]

You mean like cwb employees?

[agstar77]

No, like civil servants. Duh!

[Fransisco]

What's the difference?

[agstar77]

Civil servants have better job security.

[gregpet]

Maybe but CWB employees have better severance packages and don't forget the stress bonus pay for consistently under performing.

[TOM4CWB]

agstar77;

Don't CWB staff get paid up to a 30% bonus... for convincing me to take less than I continuously claim my grain is truly worth... even though I can prove their 'promotion' and claims are bogus?

Doesn't CWB staff get up to a 30% variable bonus for making our grain buying 'customers' happy and providing the best service possible to them at the least cost?

Don't CWB staff get up to a 30% bonus... if they meet a target grain price for a pool year... even if it meant we lost well over $100M in the process through bad risk management?

Isn't it true that if the CWB staff... can brain wash CWB Permit suffix holders in permit books... that are entitled often to vote more times than I am allowed (even though they don't sell their own grain and leave it up to me)... by taking a big chunk of my grain... and promoting the 'single desk'... so that then these folks are convinced I am an idiot/fool and don't have a clue about marketing... Even though these folks get the maximum possible from the CWB system (my job and responsibility)... resulting in them taking at face value many CWB claims... even though these claims are often corrupted frustrating deceptions?

Doesn't it bother you just a little... that Canola has rebounded in price...so well...Canola basis is the best it has been in years...(because Canola growers are disciplined sellers) that every canola grower can sell every last seed... even though we produced the biggest Canola crop in history... even larger tonnes and value than the spring wheat CWRS wheat class?

[agstar77]

Large amount of on farm storage , if all wanted to sell the system may not be able to handle. Looks like a large canola carryover . So much for your theory.

[charliep]

That would seem to indicate that farmers can make disciplined marketing
decisions in a year of large canola supplies. They also make these decisions
with barley - an 80 % open market crop. So much for your theory.

[silverback]

Why do you think we need such massive investments in our on farm storage as?

Why is it that our neighbors in the US don't seem to need the same levels of storage on their farms?

Those big evil corporations that build the massive terminals couldn't possibly be helping out their farmers storage logistics could they?

If our system is so good, how come nobody has improved it given the gov't monopoly over it for this many years?

I'll guess you will blame the railways again.

[furrowtickler]

Canola carry out will be far less than you think agstump.
1. Canola crop not as big as first thought.
2. Canola/red lentils the only thing by far paying bills right now.
3 Room for canola at profitable levels every where you turn, pay bills on 60% durum deliveries and 60% pmt to date???????????
4. demand for canola continues to be strong, exact opposite of all cwb grains!!!!!!!!
5. Most cwb supporters are glad not to pay tax b/c they might claw back old age pensions so they are O.K. that payments are non-existant and low at this time. As long as they get a check later in the year for their viagra pills.

[Kodiak]

Never mind a government cheque. I could use some stimulation though!

And NOT the kind you're thinking of.....

A competitive market for wheat and barley would be stimulation enough for this farm operation!

[haveapulse]

We have an opportunity to build a bio fuel plant in our back yard. We met with Ritz to ask him for "Agri investment tax credits" so we could attract local investment and generate the 10 million we needed to build.

We figured 10 million would be a long shot in the current investment climate without tax credits to individual investors.


You all would have been proud of our presentation;
We cited the need to value add and the opportunity and the need to move the raw commodity base of our agricutlural economy into agri industry and value add. We cited the need to attract investors and reward patient capital with tax credits. We cited proof that
incentives build industry (Bombardier the Auto industry) we suggested we needed the same to jump start the long promised value add industyr for Ag.


We have an impressive list and a case that everyone agrees with.

If the budget is what you say it is, then the same plan of inaction towards this long promised reality is as elusive under the Conservatives as it was under the Liberals.

Plus ca change; plus ca rest la meme.

Ritz still has a day, let us hope.

[haveapulse]

The time is now to diversify the comodity based ag sector into value add.

If we have a billion new money into agriculture and this government fails to realize that builders/pioneers should be the most prized citizens of this nation, and rewarded by fiscal policy with a long overdue plan to begin to diversify our commodity based export economy, we must ask some very serious questions to our elected members in our ridings. Will the real capitalists please stand up.

We need builders in our communities and in Ottawa.

Not more jobs in Admin.

[haveapulse]

Err (no more jobs in Admin) I digress, one exception we should all leave our names open to be appointed to be a Senator from Saskatchewan, or PEI even if we do not live Ontario.