God Bless America!
"5. Canadian Choices
Elections are underway in western Canada for some of the directorships of the Canadian Wheat Board. We can't help but wonder whether western Canadian wheat producers might choose some more directors who in turn want to give real economic choice back to the producers; a choice of when, where, and to whom to market their own wheat and barley.
Here at USW we've been concerned at the gradual decline in wheat acreage as economic returns to corn and soybeans have outpaced wheat and driven more producers, especially in the eastern and northern parts of our wheat country, to plant those crops instead of wheat. Interestingly, western Canada's wheat area has been declining even faster, giving way to more canola and specialty crops. Those crops also give producers many more marketing options than milling wheat and malting barley, where their only legal market is the CWB.
Recent analyses continue to show that northern U.S. producers receive considerably more money through our open marketing system than their cross-border cousins are able to earn from very similar wheat. The stated purpose of the CWB is to maximize returns to western Canadian wheat and barley producers, yet they are apparently failing to do so. Meanwhile, the WTO Doha Development Round of negotiations is showing some new signs of life, with a push underway to complete the negotiations in 2011. The draft language of that potential agreement would ban the monopoly practices of the CWB and eliminate its ability to borrow funds at government rates. The CWB would have to either become a much different animal, perhaps running a voluntary rather than mandatory pricing pool, or cease to exist.
Perhaps it is no accident that in Ontario, where producers are free of the CWB's iron grip, wheat area today stands at its ten-year average, even though the province receives enough moisture to grow corn and soybeans. Could it be that sustained wheat acreage in Ontario is at least partly due to the fact that producers can make their own marketing decisions? We think that is certainly part of the story. Western Canadian producers can look south to see higher prices, east within Canada to see sustained wheat production, and into their own canola returns to see the success of open marketing.
Whether or not western Canadian wheat producers "choose choice" in this election, we are confident that the dinosaur that is the CWB will before long, one way or another, go extinct."
http://www.uswheat.org/newsEvents/wheatLetter/doc/A292F88E8988B0FC852577EE00502F8B?OpenDocument#
God Bless Canada!!!
"5. Canadian Choices
Elections are underway in western Canada for some of the directorships of the Canadian Wheat Board. We can't help but wonder whether western Canadian wheat producers might choose some more directors who in turn want to give real economic choice back to the producers; a choice of when, where, and to whom to market their own wheat and barley.
Here at USW we've been concerned at the gradual decline in wheat acreage as economic returns to corn and soybeans have outpaced wheat and driven more producers, especially in the eastern and northern parts of our wheat country, to plant those crops instead of wheat. Interestingly, western Canada's wheat area has been declining even faster, giving way to more canola and specialty crops. Those crops also give producers many more marketing options than milling wheat and malting barley, where their only legal market is the CWB.
Recent analyses continue to show that northern U.S. producers receive considerably more money through our open marketing system than their cross-border cousins are able to earn from very similar wheat. The stated purpose of the CWB is to maximize returns to western Canadian wheat and barley producers, yet they are apparently failing to do so. Meanwhile, the WTO Doha Development Round of negotiations is showing some new signs of life, with a push underway to complete the negotiations in 2011. The draft language of that potential agreement would ban the monopoly practices of the CWB and eliminate its ability to borrow funds at government rates. The CWB would have to either become a much different animal, perhaps running a voluntary rather than mandatory pricing pool, or cease to exist.
Perhaps it is no accident that in Ontario, where producers are free of the CWB's iron grip, wheat area today stands at its ten-year average, even though the province receives enough moisture to grow corn and soybeans. Could it be that sustained wheat acreage in Ontario is at least partly due to the fact that producers can make their own marketing decisions? We think that is certainly part of the story. Western Canadian producers can look south to see higher prices, east within Canada to see sustained wheat production, and into their own canola returns to see the success of open marketing.
Whether or not western Canadian wheat producers "choose choice" in this election, we are confident that the dinosaur that is the CWB will before long, one way or another, go extinct."
http://www.uswheat.org/newsEvents/wheatLetter/doc/A292F88E8988B0FC852577EE00502F8B?OpenDocument#
God Bless Canada!!!
Comment