bio deisel, ethanol etc.?

[cowman]

Ever noticed how the USA just seems to get it done? While in Canada we need to dither and study everything to death? Whether it is bio deisel plants, ethanol plants, packing houses, pasta plants!
How is it that the evil old USA government can just get that money out there and get the plant built?

[farmers_son]

You might be interested in this site:

http://www.fsa.usda.gov/daco/bio_daco.htm#2006

How does the U.S get it done? Well it might be the size of the U.S. Federal deficit budget, in 2005 estimated to consist of revenues of $2.119 trillion dollars with expenditures of $2.466 trillion leaving a deficit of $.347 trillion dollars. Or in terms Canadians think of a $347 billion dollar deficit. And that is just for one year. The U.S. national debt is $8.3 trillion dollars. This presents about 66% of the U.S. GDP or 8 times Canada’s entire GDP.

By contrast Canada’s budget for 2004 is revenues of $159.6 billion, expenditures of $152.6 billion leaving a surplus of $7 billion. Canada’s national debt represents about 38% our GDP.

It appears to me that the U.S. gets it done by running deficits that are over twice the size of Canada’s entire budget.

How long can the U.S. economy and by default the world economy stand that kind of reckless and irresponsible spending? What does U.S. deficit spending mean for interest rates, inflation and the world economy. It is frankly scary.

How does the U.S. get it done, well they borrow for it.

[farmers_son]

good point farmers_son. I think we are taking a cautious approach which in the long run may be better for our country.

[SASKFARMER3]

Yea typical Canadian, we need a cautious approach. Yes lets see we did that for the last 13 years and the rural area's in this country are dying and every day the lights go out in another farm yard.
Yes sitting back is the answer. Soon they will open up land so foreigners can buy it and when were all working as slave labour for the Chinese your answer works.
Wake up yes the US has huge debts and that's not the right way to go but waiting for someone to do something never works.
Mr dither and Johnny ran this country for 13 years and look what we have today.

[food4u]

SASKFARMER3--You have forgotten to include Roy and Lorne in your dither list.

[food4u]

If the federal and provincial governments, and farmers themselves can agree on a support program that will provide assistance to farmers that really need it, hopefully it will happen sooner than later.
I understand the concerns and issues facing agriculture but am smart enough to realize that our urban neighbours will never agree to the country going into debt to assist one sector of the economy.

The government has squandered enough money in their dirty little deals over the past 13 years to have put mega dollars into projects that would have helped agriculture in a big way, and also helped keep rural communities alive.

[farmers_son]

I hear those that say our government cannot afford to support agriculture the same as the U.S. does. Obviously Canada is in a better position to support agriculture. However the priorities lie elsewhere.

[silverback]

Canada is nearly taxed to death, how is it we are more able to support ag. than the U.S.? And what priorities are you talking about?

[silverback]

Unfortunately whenever a program like CAIS is put in place the largest amount of the funding goes to the huge bureaucracy that administers it. How many programs have there been over the past ten or fifteen years that really have accomplished what they set out to do as far as assisting primary producers ?

[silverback]

Canada is nearly taxed to death, how is it we are more able to support ag. than the U.S.? And what priorities are you talking about?

[skhadenuf]

First of all the American debt is in no way caused mainly by the subsidies they provide to Agriculture. That portion is only a relatively small part compared the wars etc they are engaged in. Also they know from history that a nation that cannot feed itself is one that is unstable

Second, the bottom line is that we the farmers of this country have actually subsidized the rest of this country for too long. The reason Canada is considered to be a modern nation with
good standard of living is because we the farmers are producing cheap primary product while large secondary corporations take advantage to make their profits, and consumers here are spending so little of their money percentage wise towards food relative to recreation etc.
When you say we cannot afford the taxes here to support agriculture I say you cannot afford not to. The day is coming that when we as producers will either wise up and cut back production not just here in Canada, or we develop bio fuels etc to the point that less of our product is out there for food consumption, people not only of this country but the world will know it would have been much cheaper to spend a little to keep farmers producing just food.

[cakadu]

There will eventually come a day when there will be food grade varieties of things like canola and then there will be varieties that will be solely for biofuels. They are not so far off in terms of availability.

It is also my understanding that biofuels and/or biolubricants can utilize the greener canola seeds, in fact, the greener the better. It will be another option for crops that don't quite make the grade for other things.

There is opportunity for several income streams from biolubricants and those will be of benefit as well.

[SASKFARMER3]

Cockadoodle do yes I am in favor of Bio Diesel etc. to get rural Canada going but after years of neglect we don't have disposable income to build these plants.
Look at latest from states One farmers is building 10 - 50,000,000.00 dollar plants with his money and oh yea some investors.
Who in Canada has that kind of disposable income and farms, The answer is no one. And why because for the last 13 years we were left to fend for our selves by our federal governments and now were loosing farmers every day because of it.
God I hope these plants get built but if its not farmer controlled it will fail like every thing else.
The USA has it right! start at the farm helping and then dish the wealth out after them.
In Canada its start at the Government jobs and work down to the farmer.

[cowman]

I think you have hit the nail on the head there Sask farmer! Its all about keeping the "boys" happy and prospering! Why you can't wipe your nose up here without having a government committee to study the effects and proper way of doing it!

[wilagro]

Bio-fuels will be produced if and when they become PROFITABLE. This is not to say "profitable for the primary producer".

Big business will determine the need for bio-fuels unless the primary producers jump the gun and initiate the process.

Not too likely IMHO considering the current state of agriculture. I could be wrong. It would be nice to be proven wrong in this regard...