ConAgra posted quarterly profit!

[Zaphod]

OK Mr Hadenuff. Let's do the math. When wheat doubled or tripled in price last year, your loaf of bread went up by what, maybe 10%?. That's the positive side of value-added.

When someone in a poor country is buying raw peas or beans or rice as their staple food and the price doubles (peas go from $5 to $10 like they did last year), their grocery bill goes up 100%. It matters big-time.

If you're mad about prices dropping, that's fine. But don't make it sound like these people are trying to rip off the farmer. They're trying to survive.

[Zaphod]

Had to add one other thing. Just found average income in India is $850 per year. That's $2.33 per day. No, I guess a few cents won't make a big deal.

[skhadenuf]

Well Mr. Zap let's do some math! But first it's been stated that all those up the value chain have a right to make a profit well yes that's right but so do we who actually take the most risk! It's not up to me or any other farmer to feed some poor person from india or any other country for a loss.
It is easy to throw some numbers up like average income ( not sure where that number comes from because india actually is supposedly becoming one of the most agressive world purchasers of consumer goods so not sure how all them cars etc being sold there for 850 a year.) I don't have time to surf net to find their income right now but I will.
But for now in the case of peas there is 60 pounds / bushel, what would a serving be and I am not being sarcastic correct me if wrong a half pound, a pound 2 pounds? 5 dollar peas at half pound is about 4 cents a serving, pound is 8 cents, 2 pounds is 16 cents. 8 dollar peas is 7 cents, 14 cents and 28 cents. Now are you talking about selling these peas to the homeless people of india or the mass of which is driving the making of one of the most robust economies anywhere! Because homeless poor people don't have to be in india to not afford 5 dollar peas, that's not the market. And I wonder just what those people are being charged for these peas? Glad you asked about the math thing for sure now, makes me think about a can of pea soup is what 2 bucks in the store, of that 2 bucks our ingredients are worth what a couple of pennies, and we're being overpaid?????
As far as bread that 10% increase in price is not just the increase in wheat it is mostly made up of increase in inflation due to everyone up the chain wages etc. So that 10% is not 10 percent. And since such a small amount of increase what maybe 5 % is due to the price of wheat then why isn't wheat still that price and not where it is now back to what 30 40 year ago prices? The people up the chain were making money at the 3 times wheat price they sure as hell must be raking it in now that it's not because bread hasn't gone down has it.
Same for canola oil, at 12 bucks companies producing the stuff were advertising their mega profits, but now that it is 8 and canola oil in the store has not gone down, who's getting the 4 bucks??????

[Hopperbin]

Skduf thanks for putting Zaphod straight. At the 5 dollar farmer here gets likely feeds a whole family in India for 8 cents one meal peas only meanwhile they would likely prefer to eat the snails frogs insects and coconuts anyway. So the peas are the least expense. So the poor of the poor eat peas in fact the gov't probably helps the poor with food purchases toboot. Now if I ate peas every day one pound I would make it 379 years from the peas I produced from my one farm this one year and that is only 25 percent of production. Well full of peas.

[Zaphod]

Did I say that $5 or even $10 peas meant you were being overpaid? Read it again and tell me. It's simply the market.

The income number in India is the average. That means there's lots below that number and lots above. The ones above don't have as much a problem paying for food. The ones below, well that's a different story. But again, it's just the market.

That doesn't change the fact that buyers will always look to get the lowest price possible and who can blame them. There's another string that talks about farmers needing to squeeze every nickel when they're on the buying side. And that's the right way to do things. But to say that farmers should pay the lowest price possible while Indian consumers should pay higher than the market is just goofy.

[dave4441]

SF3-How can you save $2000 on a option that the Sask dealers did not offer?? I realize you will not answer the question and will deflect with "you just don't get it", "you believe farmers should pay full retail" and on and on, but how do you save money on a option that was not offered? Is this a usual method of saving money?

[curran]

Some of the issue is that there are still alot of farmers and lots of acres out there and the buyers are good at getting us to over produce....we also panic and little at harvest and I sell when I know the markets are low...usually at harvest.

The buyers are smart and because there are not that many of them really...they have alot of control over us. I don't like it much either...I am not too sure what we can do about it.