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Via Larry Weber;
“Two days after the last CWB PRO – the difference in cash prices in Ontario and the U.S. is over $5.00 AGAIN. 2008 Crop Hard Red Spring wheat with 12.5 protein or better can be booked in Ontario at $10.02 a bushel. How many of you would lock in $10.00 new crop wheat values off the combine if you had the chance?
But wait, folks – that’s not all!
Today’s “independant farmer” spotting, courtesy the Canadian Press:
“Marketing choice or a dual market is there really to end the wheat board,” Butch Harder, a Manitoba farmer, told a news conference.
Ending the board’s control will turn Prairie agriculture over to businesses, he said.
He said a majority of producers support the board, although a government-sponsored plebiscite last year seemed to support the optional-marketing plan.
Harder and others say the plebiscite was a rigged election worthy of “a banana republic.”
Butch Harder is a former CWB director for District 10.
It’s reporting like that which reminds us of the vast gap between professional journalists and “wanna-be” amateurs like ourselves!
What I’ve never understood in this long painful folderol is this: the CWB and its supporters claim that their single-desk system is ultimately better for the farmers, and that most farmers (sometimes they even use that hackneyed phrase, “the vast majority”) support them.
Well, if that’s so, how the Hell could moving to a dual-desk system do anything else except prove them right? Wouldn’t farmers continue to use the CWB’s desk? Wouldn’t the few who went with the “market” desk eventually stop using it in disgust and frustration?
Seems to me that the boosters of the CWB are simply terrified of being proven wrong. And if, in their fevered imaginations, they keep telling us that a dual-desk system would “destroy” the CWB, aren’t they actually admitting up front that they’re doing a poor job of meeting farmers’ financial needs, because farmers would abandon them in droves the moment they got the opportunity, thereby “destroying” the CWB?
Don’t they see the contradictions in their own position?
Garth
They’re terrified because they know they’re wrong.
Is there any way to find out who writes these “stories” for the CP?
I do like the last line though..
If we don’t stop this madness I can tell you, and I firmly believe it, that supply management will be next to go, medicare and the CBC will follow.”
Not the CBC!! Stop the MADNESS!!!
Dad had a whole crop sitting in his bins for 18 months, waiting for the Board to call for delivery. He finally talked to a broker who sold it to the ethanol plant 15 miles away for more than what he would have seen through the Board.
Now that he KNOWS that he can sell to someone else, he is less of a supporter of the Board. I assume that the same experience would be duplicated many times over amongst staunch supporters of the Board.
The only reason why Saskatchewan doesn’t produce it’s own cereals and pastas is because the Wheat Board doesn’t want us to. They fear the farmer being at the complete mercy of “the grain companies” while acting in the same way that they fear.
Let’s hope that the Liberals are still turtling come August when the Conservatives want to pass a bill removing barley from the Wheat Board Act.
I don’t see what the problem is. I mean, what can possibly be wrong with a system that pays you as much as 60% of the market rate with no risk of a better deal?
I think it is time to cut the BS.
If the CWB is such a great deal, throw it out to the farmers and let them make the decision on it.
Just as an aside, googling “Ken Sigurdson” is interesting reading as well. He was attached as the Manitoba coordinator for the National Farmer’s Union, but is on record opposing many projects which might actually HELP farmers like hog barns and biofuel production. Also doesn’t limit his opposition to projects in Manitoba, is on record opposing a hog barn in Pangman, SK.
He also owns the website savemycwb.ca
Canadian journalism is an ethics free profession.
If the CWB is stripped of its’ marketing monopoly, my father-in-law who just turned 70 may actually be able to sell his land in a year or two for something more than a bag of magic beans and retire with dignity. Now that’s a richly deserved harvest.
More madness please!! Just a bit more you mean, and the CBC will go.
All right!!! All togeather now! W.F.O. MADNESS!!
(Thanks Warwick, spewed my coffee.)
Get rid of it. If that many people want out of it. Get rid of it. But don’t think you are going to come whining to the gov’t to bail you out when everything goes to hell.
Does anyone think farmers will quit burning farm fuel in their motorhomes and boats if they get more for their grain?
CWB, CBC
think left , act left, none left.
I would luv it.
the cwb is the besthing to happen to canadian farmer’s if they hadn’t starved them,left them broke , they never would have growen canola, flax ,peas, oat’s to stay in business. for year’s I’ve listened to all the excuses that farmer’s have come up with. If the board is so good why arn’t these crops under the board? Asked old farmer why support the board, he didn’t know except they had alway’s been there! how sad prisoner’s and slave’s say the same thing’s about their live’s.
Farmers have been jailed for selling outside the CWB. Yet violent offenders get let out to commit murders in Calgary.
Wher’s the logic? Common sense is not that common.
The Great Canadian Way is to have the foxes guard the hen house!
Yep, the former CWB operatives decrying an actual free market. PRICELESS!
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht BGS, PDP, CFP
Commander in Chief
Frankenstein Battalion
2nd Squadron: Ulanen-(Lancers) Regiment Großherzog Friedrich von Baden(Rheinisches) Nr.7(Saarbrucken)
Knecht Rupprecht Division
Hans Corps
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
Unbelievable.
I think the farmers over the past few years, with the expansion of the internet and other marketing tools, have really opened their eyes.
THIS JUST IN:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/story/4116309p-4711802c.html
OTTAWA – Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz plans to introduce legislation to end the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly on prairie barley sales.
Farmers rally for CWB
Ritz made the announcement this afternoon following a meeting in Ottawa with wheat board officials and barley industry representatives, which Ritz said was very productive.
He sent the wheat board back to Winnipeg with orders to take what they heard before the board of directors later this week. He is hoping the board will then produce a plan to introduce marketing choice for barley producers.
He said the wheat board will support the legislation “if they purport to really represent producers” but said he will introduce legislation regardless, with a view to implementing marketing choice on Aug. 1.
He acknowledged the wheat board’s support “would help take the opposition parties’ stinger away.”
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
Kate, I can’t think of a more compelling argument for ending the CWB’s marketing monopoly than the posting you made. Good show!
keep shinning the light on these “independent farmers”. It would be interesting to see who they really are
Just today in my own office building in Swift Current I came upon some demonstrators. They were huddled in the breezeway because it was too cold to be outside. Mine is the same office building that holds the offices of David Anderson, Conservative MP who is a very vocal critic of the CWB. These brave souls who so whole heartedley support the CWB did not have the courage to march outside Anderson’s office window because it was too cold. And I personally know that at least some of the picketers are NOT farmers. They are ideologues who will do whatever to demonize our Conservative government.
I can also think of many other very vocal supporters of the CWB from the area who were not there but normally would be if the weather was more accomodating shall we say.
A digression, but Kate is currently on the Michael Coren Show. Cable TV here in Toronto but I think it’s only available on Satellite outside the Toronto area.
Good show so far.
I have ran into “cradle-to-grave” types. They like getting something at the expense of others.
For example a few years back a bunch of Northern Alberta farmers set up at the Coutts border crossing professing their undying love for the CWB.
The issue we had with them was thus: Barley between Great Falls MT and High River AB was top quality but the yield was lower. Malters were willing to pay something like $15 per bushel where the Northern Alberta barley was only worth $10.
The CBW took the barley and gave everyone $12.50 even though the Northern Alberta farmers had higher yields.
We asked a couple of the ‘protesters’ about why they thought they should get the same price for lower quality barely. Of course the answer was “fairness” so we asked them if they were willing to give up their yield advantage. One saw the unfairness of the issue and backed off but the other, who was an arragant prick and probably the ringleader for the protest, said it was up to us where we lived and we replied “likewise” he then didn’t have much to respond.
The point is that there are those who enjoy living off the sweat of others and the CWB keeps in power by playing to those very people.
Also, the news media that covered the story claimed that the protesters represented all farmers even after I yelled at them that these farmers didn’t represent us.
It’s reporting like that which reminds us of the vast gap between professional journalists and “wanna-be” amateurs like ourselves!”
Really? What’s omitted from this post is the fact that any farmer is free to market their grain outside of the CWB thru the Producer Direct Sale program.
“When conducting a PDS, the CWB quotes what it is getting for a similar product in a particular market on a given day (known as the cash price). Farmers then pay this cash price to the CWB pool. The CWB will then pay the farmer the initial payment, and over time, will pay the total value of the grain received by all farmers in the pool. The result of this transaction means farmers can earn the pool price, plus the additional premium they are able to negotiate with a buyer.
http://www.cwb.ca/public/en/hot/choice/producer/
If pooling of grain is such a good idea, why don’t we have pooling of wages??? it should only be fair…let the union boss get no more than the kid at the local Dairy Queen..
Time for the CWB to be gone…
Statistics Canada
1996 Farms in Canada 276,548
2006 Farms in Canada 229,373
10Yr Farms in Canada Lost 47,175
Statistics Sask.
1996 Farms in Sk. 56,995
2006 Farms in Sk. 44,329
10Yr.Farms in Sk. 12,666
The CWB has been not working very well so far.
Now if these were aut workers how many billion paid out. 12,666 by husband, wife and one child would be 37,998 jobs. Liberanos new Dion and liberal media quiet on this issue.
Do Flaman and Harder sound, to anyone else, like a mix between Wesley Mouch and James Taggart?
Manny
The Producer Direct Sale is NOT outside the CWB. Read your own post.
The farmer must buy his own wheat back from the CWB at a premium price to participate in the program, after selling it to the CWB at the pool price.
An example of how this works: Farmer Joe finds a sale for his wheat at a mill in Montana. He sells it to the CWB for $225 per tonne, and buys it back from them for the cash price of $408 per tonne. He is then free to sell this wheat to the mill at any price he can get, which would be about $408. Some deal. No farmers use this method for the obvious reasons.
You guys f*cking suck. The CWB works to get a strong price through the solidarity of its members. It’s the same way your beloved f*cking Walmart gets a good price on the Chinese schlock merchanside it sells–through the strength of its bargaining power. Walmart controls such a huge share of the sh*t-selling retail market, it buys in uber bulk through economies of scale. CWB sells by the same principle. Do you think if every Walmart sourced its merchandise independently it would be able to provide the prices that it does? No, and if each farmer sold his grain independently he wouldn’t get d*ck for it either. Now go read your Ayn Rand and stew in your bitterness, anger and self-loathing, dickwads.
Flaman and Harder sound like a mix between Karl and Groucho Marx.
how much money for the jobs to process the auto company non-repayable non-taxable loans
Yes, CWB sells by the same principle as Walmart. You’re absolutely correct.
They pay the lowest price for the commodity they can get, and then they undercut their competitors in the retail market. The only difference is that the Walmart supplier gets to see what Walmart charges for their merchandise. They simply walk into the store. And if the supplier doesn’t like the price Walmart is offering, they are free to sell to Sears or Kmart.
The CWB doesn’t disclose to the farmer what price they’ve resold his grain for. And the CWB’s agents in the government will throw the farmer in jail if he tries to sell it anyone else….
Nice analogy, though I’m not certain you realized how devastating it is to the CWB.
Like Wal-Mart, the CWB is so confident in their business acumen that they’ve gone public on the NASDAQ. Haven’t you ever been met by a CWB greeter at the door?
To the trolls out there and particularly the trolls that never learned English and have to resort to swearing,the govt of Canada thru the CWB,and thus western farmers and not farmers outside the jurisdiction of the CWB,sold wheat to Britain at a much lower than world price on the promise that Britain would pay a higher price after Britain recovered after the war.The govt in Britain changed and the new govt saw no reason to honor a commmitment that was never written down.Then in the mid fifties the board decided not to sell wheat as the price was too low so the farmers had to store and not sell their production.Try that sometime. Go to work and not get paid as your employer thinks that you should get more money but wont give you any till the wage rate goes up.They lost market share and it wasnt till the mid 70’s(20years) and a shortage of grain ,did they get it back.REMEMBER,THE CWB EMPLOYES GET PAID REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY SELL GRAIN OR NOT!They dont work on commission.
‘perhaps we did cost him $5.00/bu on his durum. Perhaps it did run 50 bu/ac and perhaps he had a thousand acres. And perhaps he could have earned an additional quarter of a million dollars.’ –
From a Spaced out Compulsory Wheat Board model Director.
Fascism
‘4) Government by elite is a principle that fascists everywhere frankly oppose to the ‘democratic fallacy’ that people are capable of governing themselves. The concept that only a small minority of the population, qualified by birth, education, or socal standing, is capable of understanding what is best for the whole community, and of putting it into practise, is not an invention of 20th century fascism. …
Plato, one of the first Western political philosophers, strongly believed that only one class, the ‘philosopher-kings’ are fit to rule society.’
‘The objective of the corporate state is to guarantee the power of the state rather than the welfare of the individual.’
‘To make this method of control more nearly complete, the fascist govt established corporations which were administrative agencies in a given industry designed to unite and control the associations of workers and employers in that industry. According to law, the syndicates were autonomous; in fact however they were run by the state.’
Capitalism:
‘Different people should be permitted to live different lives; the principle of liberty thus inevitably implies that of variety and diversity.’
John Mill “reminds those who are willing to repress individual liberty for the sake of a strong state that the worth of a state is no more than the worth of its individual citizens. When the state ‘dwarfs’ its men and reduces them to docile instruments, it will find that ‘with small men no great things can really be accomplished’.”
Back here on planet earth, it really isn’t that hard to see which side of this CWB argument that the freedom loving citizens of this free and democratic country should be on, is it?
Or which side the Cdn Justice system should be on.
And given the cavalier attitude of CWB Directors towards the money earned by hard-working, captive farmers, I think that it really is the time to open up the wheat exporting business also.
Stick a fork it, its done.
How many ticks can a farmer have before he drops?
my relative’s farm acouple of thousand acres in ontario and have no idea what we’re talking about. Their main concern is the price of soy/corn. sask farmer’s don’t realize that ont farmer’s even grow hrs. much less what they get for it!
Open the books on this lieberal slush fund and watch certian scum run for cover when those stupid socialist farmers who want this Edsel, known as the wheat board, see how much has been stolen from them.
[quote]I think it is time to cut the BS.
If the CWB is such a great deal, throw it out to the farmers and let them make the decision on it. [/quote]
Wrong! Why do you think the CWB, Eggs & Milk Boards or CBC Exist? “Do not give up your rights”
The Marketing decisions of a democracy are made by both the Supply (farmer) and demand (consumer).
These Supply side marketing boards (eggs, milk, grain) work against the consumer. They in fact pick winners & losers
The CWB screws the western farmer to the benefit of Eastern processing & handling.
If the issues are placed on a National Ballet, democracy does work, the CBC, CWB, are history.
Nice catches Kate – esp. the ‘independant farmer’.
The CWB bankrupts independant farmers but subsidizes big collective outfits. The CWB must be disbanded and as Bartinski says – the books must be cracked open and examined by the the Auditor General and Mr. Ritz. All the assets of the WB should be sold and the farmers who have lost money for all the years that outfit existed, must be reimbursed – with interest.
“And the CWB’s agents in the government will throw the farmer in jail if he tries to sell it anyone else….”
Again, utter rubbish, never happened. And again, a producer can sell his grain to anyone, thru the Producer Direct Sale.
“You guys f*cking suck”
I sense some hostility here. The CWB is another one of those “Canadian” ideals that cannot be questioned lest they be accused of being one of Bush’s lackeys. Kind of like health care and the CBC.
Manny,
Farmers have gone to jail for trying to sell their grain outside of the board.
Are you a communist wheat board denier, or just one of their directors?
Manny,
Could you also explain for the nice people, why it is that AB,SK, and Man farmers are the only ones in Canada required to jump through your hoops?
Why do Ontario and Quebec farmers get to ship their grain anywhere they want at no extra cost and no buy back bullsh_t?
In all politics, the imperative is “follow the money”. That is especially true where, as in Canada, the political system is dominated by slack-lipped pseudolefties, who piously intone that their job is to prevent money from distorting the system while stuffing their pockets at maximum rate.
To wit: wheat is a fungible commodity traded worldwide. Processors pay world price, and sell their products to consumers at prices that reflect world price. Buyers are paying the extra five bucks. The farmer isn’t getting it. Canadian SDA commenters may now earn their keep by finding out whose pocket that money ends up in.
Regards,
Ric
Manny, Woodporter was right and you continue to be wrong when you say:
“And again, a producer can sell his grain to anyone, thru the Producer Direct Sale.”
The way the CWB imposes the monopoly is very simple. Every exporter in Canada must have an export (or inter-provincial) licence. It is either granted or denied. In the East it is granted; in the west it is denied. Buy-backs are no relief whatsoever from selling to the CWB.
Only grain purchased from the CWB can be exported or sold to a buyer.
In the CWB’s own words: “off-board grain cannot be exported.” (It should be noted that statements from the CWB are not be relied on, but this time they are telling the truth)
I didn’t know it was illegal for a farmer to own a boat or motorhome or go on a holiday, I guess those perks are reserved for civil servants with guauranteed incomes, raises and paid holidays.
Governments do not pay into farmers pension plans or give them severance pay if they lose their job {farm}.
The grass always looks greener on the other side.
I am always amazed at the level of ignorance and hypocrisy displayed by wheat board supporters.
It must take a great deal of effort to have the facts and logic hit you square in the face and still have the ability to say “that didn’t hurt” or “the cwb is great”.
If you support the CWB then it’s very simple: you should also support the forced pooling and gov’t controlled sale of every other product manufactured in Canada.
I wish some of you would go to
http://farnwide.blogspot.com/
and say the same thing there. You can tell that Steve V is from Ontario and has no idea what he is talking about. It is refreshing to come here and read common sense statements. [I used the grain prices put up by Kate to prove a point – which he will probably butcher to his own ends.]
Thanks; a concerned farmer