"""What to do? Review your grain movement plan for the next eight months; before road bans, before seeding, spraying, desiccation and harvest. Grain prices are generally still better for next fall. There is still the opportunity to lock in fall prices for a portion or a balance of your unsold crop in the bins. If prices improve over the next six months for current stocks, you can re-sell those stocks and then have part of your 2014 crop pre-sold. Many farmers say they are unwilling to sell grain at current record-high basis levels. Until the transportation logjam is solved or at least showing signs of abating, these record-high basis levels will remain. The logistics problem is crying out for a solution.
Terminals are empty awaiting car unloads while grain companies are paying demurrage, sailing boats light or cancelling sales outright.
The railways appear to be only willing to move 100% of previous year’s crop production, not this year’s production. It is becoming increasingly evident that a political solution is going to have to be found to incentivize the railways to increase productivity. Whether that is a temporary removal of the revenue cap that the railways operate under for grain, or some other solution, it is going to require political involvement.
Talk to your Member of Parliament, the Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Lisa Raitt, and the Minister of Agriculture, the Honourable Gerry Ritz. Phone calls are good but letters are better. Farmers have done their job in producing a record crop. Now it is up to the rest of the system to increase productivity. Marketing opportunities are being lost by the day."""
To which my reply will be the following:
How about a member of the Parrish, Heimbecker, Paterson, Richardson, Cargill families call up Harper or Ritz and get something done.
Those 5 people have more clout with the government than 40,000 western canadian farm families.
Terminals are empty awaiting car unloads while grain companies are paying demurrage, sailing boats light or cancelling sales outright.
The railways appear to be only willing to move 100% of previous year’s crop production, not this year’s production. It is becoming increasingly evident that a political solution is going to have to be found to incentivize the railways to increase productivity. Whether that is a temporary removal of the revenue cap that the railways operate under for grain, or some other solution, it is going to require political involvement.
Talk to your Member of Parliament, the Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Lisa Raitt, and the Minister of Agriculture, the Honourable Gerry Ritz. Phone calls are good but letters are better. Farmers have done their job in producing a record crop. Now it is up to the rest of the system to increase productivity. Marketing opportunities are being lost by the day."""
To which my reply will be the following:
How about a member of the Parrish, Heimbecker, Paterson, Richardson, Cargill families call up Harper or Ritz and get something done.
Those 5 people have more clout with the government than 40,000 western canadian farm families.