Reports from the CWB District Meetings

[bucket]

Jeff

How do you explain the inexcusable losses at your meetings?

How do you tell farmers with a straight face it didn't come out of their pockets?

I understand the role of the board member but this requires someone with some balls to set the record staight.

Did the cwb even fire anyone for this disaster?

Where is the gibson report and why do ex-cwb board staff who were probably responsible for the cwb practices allowed to study the fiasco?

I am asking the questions and consider this a farmer forum. Where are your answers and what is the spin the cwb tells you to say?

[Hopperbin]

One thing for sure if they keep the basis wide on PPOs we won't see the stampede to get one like years past.

[Hopperbin]

And I don't get it, the PPOs have always added value to the pools. Since when was an actual PPO value at world levels?

[gustgd]

I attended Cam Geoffs first meeting in Davidson Back on Monday sorry for the late reply.
Abbreviated report with out my notes so going from Memory.
probably 20-25 people there likely 18 current farmers balance was old boys who clapped when the local NFU lady did a big prepared monologue on how great McCreary was and that farmers have spoken and the rest of us should just accept the will of the "majority"
It's amazing who comes out when they offer "free" meals
When speaking from his notes he was coherent and told people nothing new blah blah blah .....
When he tried putting things in his own words he was embarrassing himself, I realize that he was nervous and that this was his first time being questioned by people who probably did not vote for him.
And explaining to people that their monopoly lost them 89 million through "extraordinarily" Bad management is tough.
One hard question from a monopoly supporter who does not like PPO's and was mad about the cross subsidisation from the pools after being promised by their prophet McCreary for last 8 years that would NEVER happen. Geoffs reply was that the pool would be paid back, my question was by whom Geoff made an analogy to when someone has a insurance claim premiums go up for a while.
Bed time 4 now if I get some responses I'll try and answer.
If your a wheat grower member call me I'm easy to find
G

[gustgd]

Does anyone else think that having Ward Weisensel (the Monopolys CEO) baby sitting elected directors is perhaps not the best use of his time?

[bucket]

Ward should be putting the blame directly on his shoulders. If he was any kind of a CEO heads would be rolling insted of this koom-bah-yah love in he promotes.

[parsley]

After reading online this morning that Flaman is talking about a REVISED risk management strategy, I copied my suggested plan from PN to paste on AV, but not the comments.

Here's what Flaman supposedly said in

http://www.discovermoosejaw.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7549&Ite mid=403

"And, Rod Flaman a farmer director on the Wheat Board, says it was the board that first suggested the Auditor General be approached after it hired an external consultant to review its revised risk-management approach"

REVISED?


HuH?

You mean the CWB chnaged their minds somewhere along the line? Like.....ahh...panicked? And then decided they better "review" it by dumping it on Ritz' lap?

Did the CWB try to dump it on the Mibnister, but But he wouldn't play ball?

Pars

[parsley]

Directors who voted on the risk management plan should be fieldiong questions at meetings. Not Jeff.

Particularly if there was a REVISED risk management plan.

Let's hear about this revised plan. Has management released a press release on it?

A Risk Management plan is embarked upon every year. Something went badly wrong because farmers lost HUGE piles of cash. I wrote the following on PN. Maybe this could help find out how it happened:

http://parsleysnotebook.blogspot.com

"Approach the CWB meeting as your money in the pool accounts. Put together a tag team together of about ten guys, and stand up in unison, state your name and town, each with a pencil and paper, each posing a question one after another. RECORD the answers. Don't ask the CWB if you can stand up. Check your testicles, and just do it it. It's your accountability meeting about your money. Avoid staff names and pool account figures. Assign one or two questions for each guy.

2. Ask if the CWB has a Risk Management Manager, yes or no, and if he was given his job instructions by CWB Management, yes or no and if Management approved those instructions, via a motion yes or no and if Managament took it to the Board of Directors for approval.yes or

3. Ask if the Board of Directors approved Management's model, and if the Bof D voted on it, and if it passed , and if the Bof D vote was unanimous. Yes or No's.

4. ASK if the Risk Manager had boundaries. Yes or No. (For example, when the risk manager was selling your grain, could he, for example sell the entire pool in one day because there is no formal enforcing in place, or was there a model in place with enforcement ? Normally in a crop year, the entire crop is often sold, but in planned volumes spaced throughout a period of time. ) Ask if the risk Manager sold according to the approved plan.

5 ALSO Ask if he deviated from his selling instructions. Yes or no, and also ask if he deviated on his own OR was instructed to deviate from the original plan. Ask if he was replaced.

6.ASK IF ANY OF THE FOLLOWING CHANGED OR DEVIATED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANAGEMEVNT's SELLING STRATEGY via direct GIVING INSTRUCTIONS(Ask one at a time):

The CWB Minister yes or no
CWB Management "
CWB B of Directors "
CWB Other (Could be, for example, a rogue Risk Manager, or rogue management)

Write down exactly what the responses are. (All nine who are not asking the question can record them.) Ask if there are any recorded Board Motions ABOUT ABANDONING THE ORIGINAL SELLING STRATEGY. Ask if they were passed unanimously

7. Ask what enforcement rules are in places, so that if risk mananement strategy is abandoned at some level, there is accountability. Ask if enforcement rules are recorded in a a policy motion or a Board motion. Ask the CWB to send a copy of the CURRENT Risk Strategy Enforcement rules to ONE of the questioners. Specify, you do not want a a copy that has been AMMENDED after this meeting.

8. Ask the CWB if Management think they formulated a successful action plan ,yes or no, in other words, a good model, for selling wheat in 2008-2009?

9. Ask what the total amount of Money from the pooling accounts was taken out to give performance bonuses to CWB employees for Risk management during 2008-2009.


Insist your questions be answered. If they are not, ask "Are you refusing to answer the question?" And record it.

Aim for Accountability in twenty questions. Tend your money. Take charge. Don't be intimidated. Remember, the CWB staff work for you"

Pars

[parsley]

Jeff Nielsen did not vote on a CWB Risk Management plan for 08-09. And White and Management, who came up with the plan and then handed it over to the sitting directorss for approval, including Flaman, will gladly let Jeff take the heat for this,imho.
They are the ones who should be answering these questions.

Jeff was not privy to their lack of discipline, aka stupidity. Pars

[haveapulse]

The lesson to be learned:
Under the current system, the only viable long term method of individual access to an open market price should be via export licenses.

You want access to the daily bid on physical grain, you sell your own grain.

The opportunity of this crisis is in the fact the case for export licenses is proven by these losses. As Pars has claimed for years, export licenses would have allowed farmers to sell to their own physical daily account without involving the CWB pools.

The CWB is supposed to be an orderly marketer of pooled grain, end of story. In trying to avoid change and be everything to all and maintain the integrity of the monoply they have failed on all accounts, and the ardent CWB supporters should be the most enraged for their pools are the ones that have been robbed to pay Peter & Paul.

The demand for change should be simple:
Export licenses.