Why sell any durum under series A contract?

[oneoff]

So few people can see further than their own personal situation.
I have concluded that CWB supporters are in one of two camps. The first group sees the CWB as an equallizer for the majority of their neighbors; but they themselves market their grains outside the CWB as organic or through "registered" seed businesses. Make no mistake; those producers support the CWB largely to protect their personal special status that the majority do not enjoy.
The second CWB supporter camp are satisfied to see that no one can do any better than they themselves. These are the producers who say they can't afford to store grain, build bins and make tough decisions to just not participate in markets that don't return their costs of production. In the past these (usually) strong free enterprizers have frequently held their hands out for subsidies; insurance proceeds etc. to make up for as much of the shortfall as possible.
If you want to make a statement; cutting back to 1/3 isn't enough. If the CWB had nothing to market (for even a short period); then you've made a forceful statement. The many farmers who would undermine that goal; will continue to be responsible for their actions. I doubt they will ever see the damage they do to everyone including themselves. All we will hear is the whining.

[Choice2U]

dmlfarmer makes allot of sense:
1. The CWB should hold back production when the price is high so they can get a little bit more even though western Cdn farmers actually got less than others. We'd hate to sell all of the durum above the cost of production. That extra $10/mt on 70% of our production that the CWB got by witholding last year will almost equal the $100/mt that we'll get less on our other 30% carryover this year.
2. I'm guessing dmlfarmer will be happy when the CWB sells all one can this year when the price is low to reduce our inventories even though it is below our cost of production. Oh, but wait, I guess they should only be selling 50% of this year's production to drive up the price. Meanwhile, all importers are dummies and don't read that Canada has a glut of durum in storage so I'm sure they won't just sit around waiting for the CWB to make the first move.

dmlfarmer...I'm glad the CWB drove the price higher last year so let's see them do it again this year!!!!!!!!!!!I'm waaaaiiiittting.

[parsley]

choice, you must be interesting to live with. lol

[parsley]

vvalk
I posted the WCWGA Press Release on Parsley's Notebook.

Your comments were good. pars

[SASKFARMER3]

dmlfarmer choice the grain is owned by me the last time i checked i have to cover all costs associated with growing it and getting it to the pit. So why shouldnt i control what happens with it after. My us relatives that waited with the last of their durum made a huge profit then last spring were able to lock in a real decent price on 2009 production. What the hell did the CWB do it forced us to hold back 20% of our production then they sold it to our best paying customers acording to the latest poll for a here is the bid one, a loss a huge loss a huge f$#K*#g loss.
Dum ASS>

[dmlfarmer]

Laughing even harder!!!!!
It is not me who is advocating what the CWB did last year - it is every other poster on this list!!! Ha Ha Ha. It is the "poster childs" of the anti board, choice camp trying to encourage all durum farmers not to sign up the A series and withhold production from the market to send a message to buyers. What I read is posters saying, hey if we all work together and refuse to sell at this price the buyers will have to raise the price. The irony of this is priceless.
But as charlie points out - who gets the higher price if it does go up. You with your bins locked and no delivery opportunities or durum farmers elsewhere in the world? How will loyal customers of Canadian durum respond when told sorry we have no durum available?
Low prices cure low prices, but refusing to sell, and pretending your bins are empty does not solve overproduction and a world wide glut of durum, it simply masks the oversupply problem, masks planting signals to reduce acres, and prolongs the depressed prices.
jdgreen might be right with a personal strategy of not selling and all the power to him to be in the finacial position to be able to able accept the risk and cost of storage of this crop for a couple of years in hopes the price does go up. others do not have this option, and others stilll may choose to sell and use speculative financial tools to capture increases in prices over time.

[JDGreen]

Perhaps loyal customers of Canadian durum might make enough noise, that actually somebody takes notice of the Pizz poor job the CWB is doing. If we are truly 50% of world trade, then we do make a difference.. It is unlike the wheat market where we make no difference whatsoever. I truly hope my friends south of the border do make more and sell their durum at a higher price as a result of my marketing decisions.. No socialist feelers on this farm.

[parsley]

Originally, organic farmers developed markets and marketed together with common purpose.
No government. No handouts. Marketing straight to the consumer as possible.

Then, the CWB waltzed in, set up a marketing department, stole buyers, pitted organic farmer against organic farmer, courted countless CWB monopolist organic entrants who couldn't tie their tax-shoelaces if they actually bent over, paid themselves fat ass organic marketing department wages by stealing the money from conventional farmer' accounts, and then went on permanent vacation.

The organic wheat market today?

Yes, well, don't bother telling me about the benefit of having a Government monopoly as a partner. The only one who collects a premium is Wheat Board staff.

The pasta growers would be operating today if it wasn't for the CWB.

[charliep]

Perhaps a failure of the durum market has been to develop new
markets for extra production given durum as a crop is well suited to
western Canada.

In the current market, customers can shift where they from (more
US/less Canada) as well as the level of ordinary wheat they use in the
pasta blends versus 100 % semolina (durum flour). Even couscous
markets (North Africa) can shift their sources of starch to rice and
other products. All these decisions can be made in a world of solid
durum supply demand information including what is available for sale
in western Canada.

[parsley]

Well, charliep, we have Canadians who know how to make pasta. And Canadians who WANT to make pasta.

And CANADIAN pasta making in the West is a NEW market for durum.

Farmers may as well be marketing pasta instead of the CWB marketing durum.