Farmer location Pro CWB Anti CWB

[Jagfarms]

Talking to different farmers from different locations, they see the Cwb differently.

Farmers that are on a branch line, use producer car loading sites, or independent farmer owned terminals are more in favor of the CWB.

Farmers that are closer to a main rail line or terminal like Viterra, JRI etc or farmers that have no rail service or no choice to where they deliver their grain are more likely to be anti board. This is the way I see it from talking to different farmers at the c to c.

There was some young farmers from Manitoba that started up a branch line and they have 3 producer car loading sites on their rail line. They were in favor of the Cwb.


If we lost our rail line and our farmer owned grain terminal we would be trucking our grain 100 to 175 km.

Like I mentioned before it would be great for my trucking business as I have lots of customers that I locally haul grain for now. I can haul 7 loads on an average day now/truck. If we had no rail line we would have to truck further and we could only haul 2 loads/day/truck. I would need over 3 trucks to haul what one truck hauls to our local terminal now. The trucking rates would go way up as there would be no choice for the farmers but to haul the further distance.
It would be bad for our roads bad for our communities. Once the rail line is removed there would be no getting it back.

[ALLFARMER]

Thats funny are you saying 150k is a long haul??? 150K is gets us to Viterra after that it 500 to 600k And at Viterra it takes on average 1.5 hours to unload. I help a bigger grain guy moving his 3 trucks ahead in line. Some days I don't leave the elevator...if the weather is nice good visiting though

[agstar77]

The only thing that has changed in 30 years is the size of the truck.

[ColevilleH2S]

That and the number of farmers is 1/3rd what it was, the average farm is 3 times larger. We have 1/10th the number of delivery points to choose from and the trains are twice the length.

As much as the CWB claims they can stop progress, they have a poor track record for doing so.

[Burbert]

Guys/gals farming close to the US border want an end to the cwb. Upcountry guys/gals need the cwb to look after their interests, if'n they raise and sell bored grains.

[jdepape]

Farmers who load producer cars and favour the CWB look at the $1000 per car they "save" by loading their own cars because they're not paying CWB elevations in an elevator.

They look at it as money in their pocket and support the CWB because without the CWB they would have a tough time getting a terminal to accept their producer cars.

I wonder if these guys understand that this all comes at a cost.

The $1000/car savings works out to about $12/tonne.

Wheat Grower Association price comparisons show that farmers in the US get about $23/tonne more than the CWB.

The CWB reported a premium in 08-09 of about $6.65/tonne on wheat (in the Annual Report). The CWB also reported to the Federal Grain Monitor that its full costs (admin and direct marketing costs) to market grain was $10.14/tonne in 08-09.

This means that you have a system that has a cost of 10.14 to earn a benefit of 6.65. You net a loss of $3.49 on every tonne of CWB wheat.

Competition has driven costs out of the grain handling system for canola - but not for CWB grains. CWB grains tend to cost you about $15/tonne more for handling than canola.

Producer car loaders look at the elevation savings - on wheat - and come up with about $12. You couldn't save that much loading a producer car of canola because the elevator doesn't even charge you that much.

I've heard that some guys like having a producer car loader nearby because then the elevators cut their CWB handling fees. It's called competition. The only reason they do it is because they can - and still make money.

Do the math. The full math. The $1,000 per car looks pretty trivial when you look at the whole picture.

[FarmRanger]

The #1 Winter Wheat I sold to the feeders for 30
cents more than the CWB paid for it as #1, more
than makes up for any "premium" from loading
producer cars..

If the CWB won't bid (pay) a competitive price,
why make it the law that the only other place to
legally sell it is into the feed market?

If there was an actual CWB premium, would
such laws even be necessary?
<b>Who are these laws protecting anyway?</b>

[highwayman]

We have been loading 100% of our board grains through producer cars for the last 5 years and shipping it to Mission Terminal, Thunderbay. Savings are anywhere from a minimum of 17.50/tonne - 22.50/tonne with zero dockage. Working with local short line rail company has been very beneficial as apposed to CPR previously. Hard to put a value on the convenience and time savings but it would be huge. Mission Terminals core business has always been and remains to be Producer Cars.

[TOM4CWB]

Highwayman,

Good for you. Do you think growers not using producer cars for CWB grains cross subsidise your shipping?

If not... why wouldn't this alternative remain in place... under a voluntary CWB?

[jdepape]

highwayman:
can you say where the savings come from?

primary elevation: about $14.50
cleaning: about $6.00

Makes total about $20.50

Savings anywhere else?

[bucket]

Good point Tom

If the cwb disappeared, wouldn't adrian measner be able to set up a export business right from the terminal he manages. Purchase grain from the producer groups and sell it based on what he has in port. And since these producer groups support a system like the cwb, they could finance him and his customers by taking only 25 percent of what their crop is worth and wait for the rest later.

It could be done. And really those on the short line and producer loading facilities are selling themselves short. They don't need 500 people in winnipeg to sell grain for them. There is not 500 people involved in getting the grain from their loading facility to the port, why have all the dead weight in Winnipeg.

[highwayman]

Add in terminal incentive of 3.50 at Mission. Others may only be 2.50. Terms are always negotiable.

[jdepape]

Does Mission pay the incentive to you?
I thought it would go to the CWB...

[highwayman]

I expect it would remain a viable aleternative without the CWB. It is my understanding that producer cars are protected by the Canada Grains Act. We have also shipped bin run peas and lentils via prodcuer cars and have been very happy with the results. Grain companies seem to be more then happy to buy our pulses,why should cereals be any different? Just more fear monguering by the anti-choice crowd.

[highwayman]

3.50 incentive is paid directly to producer.