Benchmarking

[cowman]

My son in law tries to give me the little lectures about how I am involved in two of the evilest industries on earth...raising cattle and the oil business. I told him don't even go there!
I also notice he never cared too much about where the money came from when I lent him money to buy a new car. Or when I signed a loan guarantee for him! No talk about that evil cow or oil money then!!
And Deb, you should run for the Green Party or better yet those morons who bounce up and down! Every political riding needs some comic relief!!! Without it we might realize that the clowns we vote in are just about as crazy!

[Deb]

Cowman, are you a gemini, by any chance?

[countryguy]

Deb you hit the nail right on the head!I have been trying to get this across for some time now.If we could eliminate the middle men and keep all profits for ourselves we wouldn't need any premium for our products.Consumers would be getting organic/natural foods at the same price they are paying for food now.At the same time we could be creating our own imputs on the farm thus decreasing our input costs.It's a win win situation all around and I am really starting to wonder why people are not seeing this.

[cowman]

I read an article on pasture pigs. The writer said this was the coming thing. Then he went on to basically explain what a complete joke this was even though he thought he had discovered the solution to every problem known to man.
He said pigs could graze alphalfa and have their babies outside in the straw! Wonderful stuff!!Of course they had to be a fat breed, so they couldn't be sold on the commodity market. And it took a long time to get them heavy enough for market. And they could only have their babes in the summer! One litter/yr. Like do the arithmetic? It doesn't pay? Like duh!
When I was a boy my dad had a whole slug of pigs. Basically they were pasture pigs like this guy talked about only they had these little colony huts to live in. They ran in about a 5 acre field that was sown to oats and barley. With another smaller field in barley and turnips(mostly one hell of a weed patch). They had access to self feeders of barley chop. Well one day he bought this brand new International 3 ton truck. He was just proud as punch (he had a strange liking for Internationals which caused me all kinds of problems as a teenager because a corn binder pickup was definitely not cool!). Anyway one day he was unloading feed into the self feeders with this new truck. A salesman came along and the truck got left in the pig pasture while they shot the bull, had coffee etc. When my dad got back a couple of hours later those damned pigs had ate all the wiring under the truck and chewed up the brake lines!! The next day a couple of livestock trucks pulled in and we loaded the whole damn works up...little ones, mid sized, and big ones. And my Dad would never own another pig as long as he lived!
And Deb, I am Tauras the bull.

[rodbradshaw]

Slow down there guys. Do you realize the effort needed for every one to start marketing their own product to the consumer. First off their isn't enough UPS -Federal Express people out their to get you product to market and then we get to the number one rule of business, Location,location,location.We along with 4 other neighbours do a bit of direct marketing through farmers markets and it is quite satisfying to see the results of your effort. It is a lot of work and requires a significant investment in labour, capital and gray matter. You have to set your self apart from what they can get at Safeway. Whether that be organic, natural, or fresher and better tasting in their minds or just added convience such as home delivery. If you thing your busy now producing wait till you had that sales component on top. It is rewarding but you have to be dedicated or the customer will just move on to the next supplier or back to Safeways.
Rod

[countryguy]

Rod,my way of thinking is that we could set up farmer owned stores to process and market our products.I agree that everyone cannot be a direct marketer.Do you think the idea of stores like this has any merit?

[Deb]

Where was your dad's sense of humour? the piggies were just trying to liven things up around the old farmstead.

Community supported agriculture is growing fast. it started in Switzerland 25 years ago. there are about 600 in the States and lots in Ontario and a few in BC. For a fee, the farmers grow what the customers ask for and the customer can supplement the payment with volunteer weeding or harvesting.

Try: http://www.umass.edu/umext/CSA

e-mail: cscan@bcn.net

I haven't checked the website yet so I don't know what's there.

There was a good article in the Western Producer Sept 6, 2001 about a CSA farmer, Ken McMullen.

[cakadu]

Rod, you're right about the extra effort needed to do your own direct marketing. It definitely isn't for the lighthearted or someone who doesn't have the drive and dedication to make it work. (And by the way, I do buy a lot of my fresh produce from you at the farmers market in the summer.)

It is an area that is really growing though and farmers markets are getting bigger all the time. You do have to be a little careful that you're not just dealing with the guy that goes to Costco and sets up shop at the market, but there are a lot of great things there.

In answer to your question countryguy, I'll start another thread on this direct marketing thing and farmer owned stores.

[rodbradshaw]

Countryguy
With food safety protocols changing rapidly and costs increasing it would be better to try and work with some one like Federated Co-op. With their Co-operative structure pressure could be applied to get them to support more local product. They have a distribution system and store to deliver the product. It would be up to the producers to deliver the customers. Then producers could work together on processing facilities as a raw product will not attract alot of attention in todays busy world.

Deb
Community agriculture works well if you have a large community (100000 )within a short drive especially if you think your going to get a lot of help with weeding and that kind of thing. The first year may go well but eventually you will only get the die hards and unless you have a large pool to draw from the second and subsiquent years will be a struggle. You need a lot of people to help because to deliver a wide variety of product takes more effort than to deliver a few carrots, potatoes and zucchinni.
Rod

[cakadu]

I guess the long and short of this is that to me, the benchmarking seems a fairly simple undertaking. Do some air, soil, water testing to see where things are at now and then on a regular basis - yearly, bi-annually, or whatever do testing in the same areas to see how much, if any, change there has been. That way we can get some idea of how the environment surrounding these CFO's is being affected.

How easy would this be to do?

[cowman]

Who would monitor it and who would pay for it? If you say the provincial government, forget it. They are not going to spend one red cent on anything like this. The EUB(energy utilities board) doesn't even monitor well site cleanups anymore! They rely on the word of the oil companys that an adequate cleanup has taken place. They only get involved if the farmer protests...and then basically to override the farmers concerns! You have to remember where you are living Linda,Alberta where big business makes the rules!

[cakadu]

Then isn't it time to take a stand and start changing the rules, or better yet, those who make the rules?

I am completely frustrated by the fact that yesterday all kinds of fees, fines and taxes went into effect and our seniors got the shaft by having their funding for things like glasses and teeth cut. Sure, say the government people, it was only $120 for a set of eyeglasses, but when your on a fixed income, that $120 can mean a lot.

At the same time yesterday, the MLA's got a 3% RAISE on top of what they voted themselves last August so now their base salary is $79,000/year with a $6700 contribution made to an RRSP (where does that money come from?!?!?!) and their taxable allowance is going from $21000 to $29000/year. Perhaps if they earned it, it wouldn't be so upsetting.

We need to start speaking to our MLA's etc. and lobby for these types of controls before no amount of oil revenue will pay for the clean-up!!