help the farmers that grow durum

[TOM4CWB]

If you are purchasing your durum from the CWB, you can export the processed product.

[TOM4CWB]

thalpenny,

Why if I do not require or request any of your services do you continue to force me to do business with the CWB against my better judgement?

Why must I buy my own wheat back from you when you did not invest, manage, grow, or finance any part of my crop or business?

Logically, if you folks at the CWB enjoy selling wheat and barley, can't you grow your own, and do whatever you would like with it yourselves?

I would have no problem having you sell your own wheat and barley, why won't you let me process and sell my own products?

What Section in the CWB Act or Regulations say I must sell my wheat or barley to you, if you don't have anything to do with financing or providing productive services to complete this sale?

[bob4choice]

Thalpenny,
You stated "They would have been priced according to location, in the same fashion as every other mill in Canada - on a competitive footing with their US counterparts."

When a mill based on the prairies buys grain from the CWB (or does a buyback) it pays roughly the same price as a mill in Ontario. Now how on earth can it compete with Ontario when to sell it's manufactured product in the Eastern US it has to pay the freight twice? (once to the CWB for the freight to Thunder Bay and once for the finished product to market)

You should read "1984 by George Orwell" . You seem to be well on your way to adopting "double-speak".
The author was amazingly prescient when, in his classic book, 1984, he described the future appearance of "double-speak" as a powerful tool for political control.

[TOM4CWB]

bob4choice,

I think you will find the CWB subtracts the freight off the purchase price, when I did buybacks this was the normal case. I understand the CWB backs the freight off Portland for Alberta mills, they track where products go and adjust accordingly!

Actually normally, if the mills hold their heads just the right way, and say the right things, they can do very well buying domestically from the CWB!

But if they don't...?

[wedino]

Tom4, When I did a buy back, the cwb charged me the difference between the initial & their selling price. I stroked a cheque to the grain co. that did the transaction for me. What peeves me about the whole process is the $5.00/MT I paid the grain co. to do this transaction. Why can't I do this transaction with the cwb directly? CWB tells me that I may not pay them, so what, if I don't pay what stops them from holding back my payments?

Another peeve is the time it takes to do the transaction.

& still another is the fact cwb puts a time limit on the export permitt. They make me buy my own grain & then tell me to export it in 2 months or?? I don't know the consequences, put me in jail during winter months, please!

[TOM4CWB]

wedino,

Being charged the difference between the initial and the buy-back CWB price is correct.

The question is what deductions the grain company did on your initial payment grain check that was applied against the buy-back.

On my buy-backs freight from the point of delivery, say Lethbridge, was for easy figureing $30.00/t.

Suppose #1CWRS 13.5 buy-back basis Vancouver/St. Lawerence was $200.00/t, and the initial was $173.00/t.

If the CWB Agent takes the $30.00/t freight off the buy-back making it $170.00, then the $30.00/t freight should come off the initial payment, making it $143.00/t as well!

Further cleaning and elevation must be credited back if the are deducted from the initial payment and not the CWB buy-back charge.

At any rate the difference should be $27.00/t no matter how the calculation is actually done.

If the elevator company charged for freight, cleaning and elevation that they did not provide, and these charges were not subtracted from the CWB buy-back price charged, then in my opinion it was a simple case of fraud.

No person legally should have to pay for services not provided, should they?

Legally the Agent of the CWB is responsible for the payment and administration weighing and initial grading, therefore there is service provided for the $5.00/t if that is what you negotiated!

If you are reputable, have a good track record with the CWB Agent, then obviously you could get this srevice for less. Unfortunately the CWB Agent looses the handle, so they tend not to do it for nothing.

I agree the CWB could streamline the process like what they have done for Organic growers, or better yet issue the no-cost export licenses, that the CWB Act and NAFTA requires of them, wouldn't that be better wedino?

[wedino]

>>If the elevator company charged for freight, cleaning and elevation that they did not provide, and these charges were not subtracted from the CWB buy-back price charged, then in my opinion it was a simple case of fraud.

I've often wondered about that. How did they get me into the pool? They never issued an invoice or statement of any kind, all I have is my cancelled cheque.

>>Legally the Agent of the CWB is responsible for the payment and administration weighing and initial grading, therefore there is service provided for the $5.00/t if that is what you negotiated!

I agree, they did provide a service, all I'm saying is "why can't I issue the cheque directly to cwb" & keep $5.00/MT in my jeans?

>>or better yet issue the no-cost export licenses, that the CWB Act and NAFTA requires of them, wouldn't that be better wedino?

You've raised an interesting point re: NAFTA. Rumblings around here regarding an American that is purchasing durum & shipping it state side somehow by passing cwb by using NAFTA.

Any way no cost licence is the way to go IMHO. Would help to lower elevation charges & hopefully get rid of ridiculous shrinkage (tookage) the grain co. take off the top.

[TOM4CWB]

wedino,

In my buy-back documents there is a primary elevator receipt, as the Agent for the CWB weighed and inspected the wheat I did the buy-back on. You should have the same documents, however I suppose the Agent you used may have done all the paperwork electronically and not issued you any of the paper copies.

It had to be entered into the CWB system, could have even been done by the CWB when the buy-back transaction was complete and paid for!

Interesting about NAFTA, I wonder when the CWB will admit that it has a serious problem with the US?
Seems,
"Denile isn't just a river in Egypt, it is alive and well at the CWB!"

[wedino]

Tom4, Agent for cwb didn't look at or weigh the barley I bought back. I told them the quanity I wanted to export & the grade & all they did was figure the $amount I owed to cwb. In the end I was short 1/4MT or so & they issued me a refund on that amount(only paper work I have). This was Robust barley, it was rejected for malt by another grain co., I bought it back as feed & sold in states as malt.

Interesting that your agent weighed your grain, how did they do that? Did you unload & reload?

[rockpile]

Help Durum Farmers,
You guys got a little off topic here, but I'd like to, as a long time Durum grower, add some history here. In the summer of 1996, Alberta Ag Minister, Walter Pazkowski, was going wild publically that Canadian Durum was being sold to Italy for less than what Italian Durum products (pound for pound) were being sold at in our own stores. What he failed to mention was that the Italian Government was, along with the EEC, subsidizing those exports at obviously well below cost. Instead, he blamed the CWB for their bad marketing and blamed them for working against the Western farmer. So get rid of the CWB. In August of 96, the US Government imposed a 49% import tarriff to offset those Italian subsidies - to protect US producers. In Canada, the Government agreed that those subsidies did hurt Canadian Pasta Manufacturers, but did not do enough hurt to warrant a similar tarriff, because 'consummers' were receiving a 'net benefit'. This is all public information. It also displays the difference between our two countries, and, obviously farm support. The point is, knowing this, why would any farmer want to invest in a Canadian value added enterprise, when the cards are stacked against you? This is not a Canadian Wheat Board problem. They face the same dilemna in attracting secondary processing. It's bad for the voting consummer. Wouldn't it be better if we tried to work together?
Rockpile