Why are grain farmers being held hostage by a War Measures Act?

[westernfarmer]

During the Second World War, the authority of the Canadian Wheat Board was expanded, and the Board was given the authority to set statutory maximums on wheat, oats, barley, flax, and corn between December, 1941 until expiry after the war. Membership was was made compulsory for Western Canadian farmers in 1943 via the War Measures Act, now which the purpose of aiding the war effort.

Currently we have #1CW Durum Wheat on our farm that the CWB will only pay us $1.75/bushel for when it is worth $7.00/bushel in Berthold, ND a few miles from Manitoba. Why should we take a chance on loosing so much money? Our only alternative is to store it for another year in hopes they will set the price higher. We had to decide by October 31st what we would do. In 1970 the price was as high as $1.75/bushel. Who can survive on 1970 prices or wages?

YouTube - Canadian Wheat Board

http://www.bertholdfarmers.com/

Wheat (W, CBOT) 1970 Historical Commodity Futures Charts

Canadian Wheat Board - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[taxslave]

It is like every other resource in the west. If it does nothing to buy votes in Ontario and Quebec it must be put down. Sam as Harper and that traitor Emmerson did to B.C. with the softwood lumber disaster. Sold us out to the Yankees in hopes of being thrown a bone in the Auto Pact to buy votes in Ontario. Your best bet is to opt out of the wheat board and sell your own product to the highest bidder.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Membership was was made compulsory for Western Canadian farmers in 1943 via the War Measures Act, now which the purpose of aiding the war effort.

"Now which the purpose of aiding the war effort"? What the Hell does that mean? There's clearly something missing from that sentence, and usually I can figure out what it is and what the writer means, even the best writers blow off a word or phrase every now and then, but that one loses me. Do you actually know the history of the Wheat Board and the prairie wheat pools and why they came to exist in the first place, and about things like initial and final prices? Don't trust Wikipedia for critical historical information when there's a political agenda involved, and there clearly is with marketing prairie grains.

 

[FiveParadox]

I think it meant "...with the purpose of helping the war effort."

 

[petros]

Do you know the difference between spot markets and pooled sales?

If Canadian farmers started dumping wheat in ND and Montana what would happen to the price and how would American producers react to the surplus driving their value down?

What about shipping to market in MT or ND do you pay out of that $7.00 a bushel to deliver?

What happens to freight prices when their isn't enough trucks or trains to move the surplus out of a producing region into a buying region? Prices go down or do they rise because of demand?

What are American condo fee Vs. Canadian CWB fees while you wait to find a buyer?

Can you afford a lawyer who can beat a WTO decision?

If ND or MT aren't buying do you have contacts in India,China, Africa, Russia to take your handful of grain?

Ask a pulse crop or organic producer if selling and shipping your own product is easier and less resource/time consuming. How long do you think it takes to get a cheque from a foreign buyer if your product doesn't lose grade in transit or while sitting in quarantine in some Asian port awaiting clearance?

What if you don't meet delivery time and short a mill that does pay $5.50 spot price delivered in ON? Can you afford to ship it back home? What if that were a sale to Iran or India and they refuse your product because of down grading during shipping? Where do you get the cash to ship your product back home especially after grade loss and age.

The choice to keep CWB was a democractic one made by producers involved and the reasoning behind that choice is very sound when you understand the bigger picture.

 

[wulfie68]

Do you know the difference between spot markets and pooled sales?

If Canadian farmers started dumping wheat in ND and Montana what would happen to the price and how would American producers react to the surplus driving their value down?

What about shipping to market in MT or ND do you pay out of that $7.00 a bushel to deliver?

What happens to freight prices when their isn't enough trucks or trains to move the surplus out of a producing region into a buying region? Prices go down or do they rise because of demand?

What are American condo fee Vs. Canadian CWB fees while you wait to find a buyer?

Can you afford a lawyer who can beat a WTO decision?

If ND or MT aren't buying do you have contacts in India,China, Africa, Russia to take your handful of grain?

Ask a pulse crop or organic producer if selling and shipping your own product is easier and less resource/time consuming. How long do you think it takes to get a cheque from a foreign buyer if your product doesn't lose grade in transit or while sitting in quarantine in some Asian port awaiting clearance?

What if you don't meet delivery time and short a mill that does pay $5.50 spot price delivered in ON? Can you afford to ship it back home? What if that were a sale to Iran or India and they refuse your product because of down grading during shipping? Where do you get the cash to ship your product back home especially after grade loss and age.

The choice to keep CWB was a democractic one made by producers involved and the reasoning behind that choice is very sound when you understand the bigger picture.

Successful farmers have to be aware of all of the factors pointeds out above or they can't stay in business anymore. Additionally, for a worst case-type scenario, such as hiring lawyers to make a case for the WTO, that wouldn't affect individuals, but large groups and just because they don't want to be part of the CWB doesn't mean that farmers can't join other marketing groups/alliances whose terms are more to their liking.

The last line, about keeping the CWB being a democratic one is laughable: individual farmers making their own choices, not being forced into a gov't run quasi-monopoly would democratic. Their lack of options is distinctly undemocratic.

 

[petros]

The last line, about keeping the CWB being a democratic one is laughable: individual farmers making their own choices, not being forced into a gov't run quasi-monopoly would democratic. Their lack of options is distinctly undemocratic.

So there wasn't a vote? Far out.There is nothing stopping a producer from marketing his own grain but it is pointless.

 

[geiseric]

My guess is Tony Clement leads the charge this time around. Harper owes him one.

 

[ironsides]

So now you complain that if you could get the wheat and grains to the markets, transportation would be a problem. Just do it, what is the worse the goverment would do to a individual farmer, try fining them. Just cut off food to the Canadian market for one year, that would get their attention and solve the farmers problem. There is to much goverment intervention in the farming community, both sides of the border. The people would support the farmers. WW-II is long over, it is time to rescind those wartime measures. If the goverment refuses, make them see the light. The some of you have forgotten that it is the people who have the power.

 

[westernfarmer]

petros said "Do you know the difference between spot markets and pooled sales? "

Your question is so childish it doesn't warrant a reply. Your comment on shipping wheat to ND is missing the fact that other ND grains such as canola, lentils or peas have prices equal to or less than our elevator prices after freight has been deducted. For example today's canola price at Berthold, ND Berthold Farmers Elevator is actually less than canola delivered to the Saskatoon area today.
Do you know the difference between hedging and speculating? The CWB forces us to speculate on 100% of our wheat or barley crops every year. You are miss-informed if you thought there ever was a vote on putting the monopoly in place. The elections we have had in recent years on selecting CWB directors include landlords in nursing homes on the voting list. There is no justification for having a vote in the first place as my property rights should have been returned after the second world war was over. Any farmer should have the right to opt out without any vote.

Educate yourself by listening to an excellent interview on BNN by De Pape a well-spoken market analyst. It's about time the national media got interested in this issue.

SqueezePlay : November 24, 2010

 

[westernfarmer]

"There is nothing stopping a producer from marketing his own grain but it is pointless."

Where did you get this non-fact?? If I grow food grade durum I cannot sell it anywhere in the world to make pasta other than the CWB. I can only sell it to a feed user as feed at a much reduced price. That is not marketing.
I was fined $5000 for trying to export 1 bushel of barley in 1995. Others went to jail for weeks for not paying these Gestapo fines.

 

[FiveParadox]

The institution of the Canadian Wheat Board is run by western Canadian farmers, so the arguments that farmers do not have choice in the matter is a bit misleading. The organisation is managed, essentially, by that very community. The Canadian Wheat Board manages the entire sales process, and markets for farmers, returning those sales less marketing costs. This enables western Canadian farmers to focus as much as possible on growing their product, without worrying about finding buyers or marketing. If you could consider what those marketing costs would be, the sales remitted to farmers are very reasonable. Weakening the Canadian Wheat Board would be a major loss for agriculture.

 

[westernfarmer]

"What do you think it takes to get a cheque from a foreign buyer if your product doesn't lose grade in transit or while sitting in quarantine in some Asian port awaiting clearance?"

You are quite ignorant of selling grain in ND. Because you only know about CWB paying an advance and the rest 1-2 years later you haven't heard about cash on delivery. I was part of over 100 farmers who delivered durum to Berthold in the 90's on one day and we all received our cheque for full payment ($7.00/bushel) before leaving the elevator. That's why a ND farmer can get paid for all his crop the day he finishes harvest if he wishes and has pre-arranged delivery. Canola and canary seed can sometimes be paid on the driveway in Saskatchewan but the wait is often 1-2 weeks. If it wasn't for our cowardly action with the CWB we would be much better at sticking up for ourselves with grain companies in accepting delayed payments.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

I was fined $5000 for trying to export 1 bushel of barley in 1995. Others went to jail for weeks for not paying these Gestapo fines.

You broke the law and you knew it, what did you expect? Do you seriously think you as an individual producer can deal on equal terms with the major international grain dealers? There are very few of them, they're huge (if my memory is correct three of them control about 80% of the global grain trade), none of them are Canadian, and to them you're nobody. You're not very convincing here, and invoking the Gestapo does your credibility no good at all. Instead it brands you as a crank. The Gestapo didn't fine people, it murdered them. Be glad you paid only $5000 instead.

 

[lynnabelone]

lead answer

I think that soldiers want them to grow grains down there cause perhpas there common people are starving to death, may be this is the only reason i think that way.

Lead Generation | LinkedIn Answers | LinkedIn

 

[captain morgan]

The institution of the Canadian Wheat Board is run by western Canadian farmers, so the arguments that farmers do not have choice in the matter is a bit misleading. The organisation is managed, essentially, by that very community. The Canadian Wheat Board manages the entire sales process, and markets for farmers, returning those sales less marketing costs. This enables western Canadian farmers to focus as much as possible on growing their product, without worrying about finding buyers or marketing. If you could consider what those marketing costs would be, the sales remitted to farmers are very reasonable. Weakening the Canadian Wheat Board would be a major loss for agriculture.

What you say about the wheat board being run by Western Canadian farmers makes no sense whatsoever. If memory serves, grain farmers west of Ontario are unable to sell their grain to anyone other than the wheat board, there is no ability to opt-in or out. That represents the most extreme example of governmental regulation going.

As far as the economic synopsis goes, if the cost of transporting and marketing your product/service consumes 30% (or more) of your operating profits, you go out of business very quickly.

 

[FiveParadox]

What you say about the wheat board being run by Western Canadian farmers makes no sense whatsoever.

It makes perfect sense, actually.

Pursuant to amendments made to the Canadian Wheat Board Act over a decade ago, the board is managed by a shared-governance board of directors, with ten members being western farmers, elected by western farmers; four members are appointed by the Governor General-in-Council; and the President and Chief Executive Officer is appointed by the Governor General-in-Council, with the advice of the other directors. The fact is that farmers dominate the government on the board of directors, and are in control of the Canadian Wheat Board. Any blame here should be squarely on the shoulders, then, of the elected members of that board.

 

[ironsides]

"There is nothing stopping a producer from marketing his own grain but it is pointless."

Where did you get this non-fact?? If I grow food grade durum I cannot sell it anywhere in the world to make pasta other than the CWB. I can only sell it to a feed user as feed at a much reduced price. That is not marketing.
I was fined $5000 for trying to export 1 bushel of barley in 1995. Others went to jail for weeks for not paying these Gestapo fines.

No, that is not marketing. A Market is where you can sell a product to the highest bidder. What did you and the other farmers do between 1995 and now? If the law is still the same obviously nothing. Sounds more like a big giant communal society of farmers (run by the state because farmers are not dumb). That is not living in a free society by my definition.

 

[westernfarmer]

No, that is not marketing. A Market is where you can sell a product to the highest bidder. What did you and the other farmers do between 1995 and now? If the law is still the same obviously nothing. Sounds more like a big giant communal society of farmers (run by the state because farmers are not dumb). That is not living in a free society by my definition.

"No, that is not marketing. A Market is where you can sell a product to the highest bidder. What did you and the other farmers do between 1995 and now? If the law is still the same obviously nothing. Sounds more like a big giant communal society of farmers (run by the state because farmers are not dumb). That is not living in a free society by my definition."

Nothing has changed since 1995. We are growing more other crops such as canola, canary seed and lentils and getting along quite well. Although because of rotation requirements grow wheat when we have to at a huge loss.
The movement slowed when one of the supporters was brutally beaten by an unknown person. Nothing like a little terror to silence protestors.

 

[ironsides]

"No, that is not marketing. A Market is where you can sell a product to the highest bidder. What did you and the other farmers do between 1995 and now? If the law is still the same obviously nothing. Sounds more like a big giant communal society of farmers (run by the state because farmers are not dumb). That is not living in a free society by my definition."

Nothing has changed since 1995. We are growing more other crops such as canola, canary seed and lentils and getting along quite well. Although because of rotation requirements grow wheat when we have to at a huge loss.
The movement slowed when one of the supporters was brutally beaten by an unknown person. Nothing like a little terror to silence protestors.

Terror will scare people off, didn't realize that the wheat faction was that powerful. Just seems that with grain being so scarce in the so called third world that selling wheat would be a good idea.