Vanclief!

[cowman]

I can not believe this guy! He is lecturing the Americans on not giving their farmers any subsidies! Maybe, they should sink down to our level? Or maybe even lower? Mr. Vanclief, use your head for once....If you don't start matching the American and European subsidies there will be NO GRAIN INDUSTRY in Canada. If we are a 1st world economy then get in the game...if not just keep on the way you are! You will reap exactly what you have sown!

[countryguy]

Cowman,I believe there will always be a grain industry in Canada but it won't be the family farmer doing it anymore.I have a gut feeling that when we finally do fall the big corps(ie moncrappo, shell,yes shell)are going to pick up the pieces where we left them.I think grain production from them is going to be biased to ethanol production rather than food.We are now starting to see commercials on tv with big petroleum companies researching and exploring other options for them.And why else are they forcing their gmo crap on us?Its not for the good of the farmer because when has technology ever been better for a farmers better line?Am I out in left field here?

[cowman]

You could be right about the ethanol thing and maybe that's a good thing. I don't know about the GMO deal...it seems to work pretty good in canola...now if we could just convince the rest of the world to eat it!
I remember going to some sort of seminar once where one of the speakers was this arrogant American. He basically said we could never compete with the American farmer and our sole purpose should be to provide cheap feeder calves for their mid-west feedlots. He said the whole of western Canada would one day be a vast pasture raising calves. It almost looks like this is starting to happen in Sask.!

[Muttley]

The state of agriculture in Canada is certainly reflective of our federal gov't. They tell us they care and are doing everything to help, but we as farmers do not see it that way.
I have no problem getting a poor price for something I am in control of, it's when we grow something that's of quality such as our grains and cattle and then get shafted when we sell.
I have heard for many years from gov't to defersify. Well we have all done this. The problem with it is when everyone else does it to, the market gets saturated and the price goes down. So what do we do, we get into something else.
What I am seeing in my area is farmers quiting all the time. They are not only young people but well established farmers packing it in while they can still retire with a few bucks.
Many of these people are leaving the area or are not spending the kind of money they used to. My town has lost many businesses in the last 20 years and I would be willing to say there will be more.
We like many of you have had to defend gov't money coming our way. The CWB announces a payment and urban folks think I'm getting tax payer money. When we get rebates back they figure it's coming out of their pocket, they do not realize I have most likely payed it in the first place.
When a farmer has money they spend it. Who cares if a few with some bucks head south for the winter, the economy still gets effected by tourism. I received about 10,000.00 last week and spent every dime of it in my home town on fuel,feed, hardware, taxes, groceries,cafe's, as well as the local rink, we bought grain and bales from the neighbors and it's a good bet they spent some of that money in town to.
Put some money in a farmers pocket, we will get the economy growing as fast as anything.

[rodbradshaw]

Ethanol and biodiesel could be the answer for many of our oversupply problems. If we could extract that so called premium for the high quality products that we produce and market the rest to a different market then the market place will have to pay up or go short. Renewable feedstocks for the fuel or plastics industries are not that far away and as long as we keep our wits about us and lobby the governments to remove the present day octane enhancers and lubricity agents and replace them with ethanol and biodiesel, it could put some demand into the market and eventually dollars to our bottom line.
Rod

[cowman]

Rod; I think they are doing this big time in North or South Dakota, so why not here? I think after they make the ethanol the residue is still pretty decent cattle feed. I'm not really up on this but I think Poundmaker feedlots in Sask. are built on this system. Also there was something about the corn growers in Ont. not wanting a tariff on corn, because it would screw up their ethanol business.

[rodbradshaw]

Cowman
Your right, this would not only provide an alternative market for our grains and oilseeds but would leave us with a high quality protein product that could be used in our livestock industry. Poundmaker is using the by product in a liquid form so they don't have the expense of drying it. API in Red Deer is making ethanol and high quality Baking Flour and or straight gluten and selling the by products to several hog feeders who are using a wet feeding system. By the way they are using CPS wheats not Hard Red. I had the chance to visit a large farmer owned ethanol plant in Chatam Ontario where some of the farmers were delivering corn with tractors and grain carts. The by products were dried and sold.

We need more of these innovative ideas.

[kenzie]

Was the Chatam plant structured like a New Generation Co-op? Family owned? Petro rich Alberta needs a fiew plants like it.

[rodbradshaw]

Kenzie
Can.t remember off the top of my head but I'll get back to you
Rod

[nakodo]

Ethanol!

Hey yes there is a market for it (once the price of gasline rises to about $ 2.00 per liter!)

Don't speak too loudly about your wishes, if you want ethanol in your fuel be prepared to pay someone to make it, and making it cost 4X as much as gaoline and 6 X as much as diesel....

Who buys this stuff? you do!

Well on the other hand $ 2.00 per liter might help the climate change Kyoto thingeee a little?????

[cowman]

I don't know how much more it costs to make but I do know they use a lot of it in the U.S. and their fuel prices are quite a bit cheaper than here. They had a lot of ethanol in their fuel 30 years ago.

[ianben]

Lots of talk on ethanol over here too. Price of crude over $40/barrel to be economic. Talk of tax break to allow 10% inclusion in road fuels. Would only use 1/2 million tonnes wheat and give biproducts one feed and another which would allow lower grade milling wheat to be used for bread
Doesn't sound that great to me.

[cowman]

We also have an oil company here(Mohawk) that has used a portion of ethanol in their fuel for over 20 years. Costs the same as any other gasoline and the byproducts are fed at Poundmaker feedlots in Sask. I don't know if they get a subsidy. I do know with the ethanol in it you never have to worry about fuel lines freezing up.

[kenzie]

Hay Nakoda, did you factor in the cost of keeping us farmers in business? and how about the cost of rural de-population. Remember when we export grain we also ship a natural resource with it. Burning ethanol would help us maintain a healthy enviroment for my kids.