New Ag Minister

[Horse]

Sure was pleased to see our new ag minister got off to mexico and back in time to tell us how good farming is going to be, havent heard a word since but around here the fields are still wet with water standing in all the low spots some seeding going on but working around a lot of water holes, pretty dam wet for the no till operators , it will be interesting to see how good the crops will be that are mudded in,
I supose the big money we were going to get for bly has probably gone out the window with the wet fields that wre going to be planted to canola now going into bly, well mabey when our ag minister gets back from his next holiday he will have more good news for us all. Well what can we expect he only gets a couple hurdred thousand and the oil exec's get between 11.8mil down to 4mill thats for the top 10 mind you but I can see how he wouldnt feel it nessary to work for his pittance.

[coppertop]

horse the Ag Minister doesn't make a couple of hundred thousand for starters, and what in heck do you expect him to do about the weather and wet fields ?? Don't you think the oil industry is facing some major challenges due to the wet spring to, or do you think it is only the agriculture sector that is adversly affected ?

[cakadu]

Copper is right, Horse - the one who makes the big bucks is the Deputy Minister.

This wet weather has likely affected a number of professions - think about home builders and all those dependent on good weather for their livelihoods such as roofers, road crews etc.

Siding installers are first and foremost on our minds at the moment as we are still waiting for our house to be sided after that horrible hail storm that went through here on August 10th.

It's hard to say just where the crops are going to be at. With all this talk of ethanol and biodiesel plants etc., we are likely going to see some changes - exactly what and when remains to be seen.

[Horse]

Gee you sure are testy I dont think I blamed the weather on the ag minister what I did say is he hasnt done a dam thing yet and there is more wrong with agri than the weather.

[cakadu]

What are some of the things you would like the Ag minister to fix, Horse? What solutions would you suggest for the issues that you see?

My personal philosophy is that we can't just come with the problems or issues because there will always be problems, issues etc. We also need to come with solutions and the more solutions the better.

[Horse]

How about doing something on the grazing lease issue and put us on a level playing field I realy hate trying to compete when those have at least a $100 advantage over the free hold operators.
How about doing something with the monoply the packers have like elimating thier captive suply of cattle.
Mabey get thier noses out of the grain marketing system.
Stick by thier rules of I,L,Os and water shed ,Riparian areas.
Mabey look at purple fuel we get 6 cents a liter with gas at 1.20 a litre and we got 6 cents a litre when gas was 50 cents a litre.
How about they look into surface lease rates, they say there is no rent controls in alta , tell that to the surface rights board.
And that is just for starters how about you are you satisafied with the way your tax and royalty money is being spent?