Why sell any durum under series A contract?

[cityguy]

Thanks for explanation. So if the CWB isn't short then do they sweat if the supply offered is cut back? Presume that holding back supply from the CWB will allow for world market to rise (and hopefully eliminate the $1.00/bu US LDP) but then the CWB is stuck not being able to sell into the rising market. Leaving aside the philosophy of pro/anti choice, a decision has to be made on contracting in the next month.Is it to the Canadian farmers advantage to only contract half of the durum to the CWB so that they are unable to meet the tradition 3.5 million tonne demand (100,000/week and presume that the demand is a steady 100/week).

[Choice2U]

Cityguy, the two options are:
1. 100% trust the CWB and sign up everything so that they know exactly what they have and let them manipulate (if they actually could) the market as they see fit and just accept whatever delivery amounts, timing, price, etc that they decide to return to you. In this scenerio everything is out of your hands and you only manage your farm needs based on all the other non-board crops that you grow.
2. Try and do whatever is best for your particular farm based on what crops are worth storing with the greatest upside, what crops to deliver based on available storage, cash flow requirements now and in the future, risk of spoilage based on what the harvest weather dictated, etc.

Personally, I don't think there are any benefits to the CWB so what I have to give up is not worth it.

[Hopperbin]

Somehow I don't think with holding durum from the CWB is going to do anything. They already know the stocks are there and do not need to convince farmers to withhold 50 percent. What I do not get is why does the CWB not have a higher pro and only accept 60 percent of the durum. Like dahhhhhhhhh,

[Hopperbin]

ooops they did that last year, dahhhhh, now we have tooo much, dahhhh. That is about all I have to say.

[dmlfarmer]

Cityguy, what most people, farmers included, forget is that the CWB is not a buyer or consumer of durum. The CWB is simply a marketer or agent of durum. They can only market what farmer contract so if every farmer would lock their durum bins and refuse to sign an A contract the CWB would be forced to withdraw from marketing durum. If there is enough durum in the system to cover sales CWB has already made then the CWB would not "sweat it" at all, other than realizing ) that good customers that they have had a long term relationship with will have to go elsewhere and (as every business person knowsit is likely harder to win back a spurned customer than to keep a customer happy. Your question really is moot however, as a group of farmers in a room cannot agree on the time a day much less a marketing strategy so no matter how much some people on this site demand that no one contract durum at this price to the CWB and when these same people complained the CWB would not take all their durum last spring (snicker) there will be an equal number of farmers with the opposite strategy.

As far as JDgreens assertion that if we lock our bins maybe our loyal buyers would complain about paying too little for our durum... this will happen the same day farmers COMPLAINING about fertilizer and roundup droping 50% this past summmer and saying all farmers want to pay more for crop imputs! Everyone, durum buyers, farmers, crop input suppliers grain companies, everyone in business want to buy low and sell high. Any socialists on this site want to disagree with me here???

[dmlfarmer]

Cityguy, what most people, farmers included, forget is that the CWB is not a buyer or consumer of durum. The CWB is simply a marketer or agent of durum. They can only market what farmer contract so if every farmer would lock their durum bins and refuse to sign an A contract the CWB would be forced to withdraw from marketing durum. If there is enough durum in the system to cover sales CWB has already made then the CWB would not "sweat it" at all, other than realizing ) that good customers that they have had a long term relationship with will have to go elsewhere and (as every business person knowsit is likely harder to win back a spurned customer than to keep a customer happy. Your question really is moot however, as a group of farmers in a room cannot agree on the time a day much less a marketing strategy so no matter how much some people on this site demand that no one contract durum at this price to the CWB and when these same people complained the CWB would not take all their durum last spring (snicker) there will be an equal number of farmers with the opposite strategy.

As far as JDgreens assertion that if we lock our bins maybe our loyal buyers would complain about paying too little for our durum... this will happen the same day farmers COMPLAINING about fertilizer and roundup droping 50% this past summmer and saying all farmers want to pay more for crop imputs! Everyone, durum buyers, farmers, crop input suppliers grain companies, everyone in business want to buy low and sell high. Any socialists on this site want to disagree with me here???

[tipsy]

walk and others,what I don't understand is at seeding time when it was looking like durum growers were going to be holding over durum stocks and the price signal was telling you not to grow durum,why would grow more?Was it not obvious, produce more and were going to be selling for less?Capitalism and optimism are wonderfull but sometimes common sense has its place.

[furrowtickler]

Good point tipsy - hence the reason we did seed any maly barley. The writing was on the wall for a while.

[JDGreen]

And seed what ??? Wheat?? Feed Barley??.. It's all in the toilet last time i checked.. Probably the point i try to make in the durum market, is not the fact that i don't wish to sell my durum at these levels, but rather i hope we do piss off our customers.. Someway somehow the CWB need to be truly exposed as to the fact that they really cant market anything. Perhaps `my customers would have been happier obtaining their supply from me in June or July when I wished to sell my durum.. I find it offensive that anyone is so gullible to believe that we as farmers would be the ones pizzing off our customers... Maybe I am way off target here but thats how i see it..