BNSF Northern US Rail shortfalls....

[farmaholic]

Its simple, you're not paying enough ado089.

Trendline yeilds for ag products
Oil
General freight for an active Western economy
Existing and coming on stream potash
Coal(?)
Lumber

All looking for static and yes, shrinking(abandoned) rail capacity. No problems here. We don't need joint/"OPEN" running rights or strategic extra capacity BUILT. They can build pipelines for one commodity type but heaven forbid rail gets built for multiple freight types. For every mile of branchline
abondoned or tore out they should have been required to increase capacity in some meaningful manner.

[dave4441]

Why do you say I don't like arbitrage?

[dave4441]

And where did I say a rail monopoly is good? That's the problem with this site, no one reads what you post and jumps to whine about things.

[bucket]

I know you can't order cars to match sales.

But why wouldn't graincos want that?

It about changing the way things are done or at the least compromising so that we move forward and not continue to be stuck in a rut of the past.

And why is it so important to know who I am on this forum? I don't think it will change my view or temperament.

I am a simple farmer with different thinking that doesn't want to be tied any group to be a sheep.

[farmaholic]

Bucket, you bring up a good point regarding farm groups. You're either labelled a righty or lefty and in the middle is the moderate's no man's land.

Don't give up. I think this site likely gets monitored for sentiments.

What does surprise me is the change of view, that maybe the open market wasn't the cure-all. Still have rail problems and accusations of stolen
income and a lack of transparency. Depending upon individual marketing success will determine the opinion. Is it a work in progress?

[bucket]

I got asked basically that question today at the elevator.

Manager asks me what I think 2 years into an open market?

I said I should pay more attention to basis but when I sign a contract for a window of delivery it would be nice to have it honored. Which puts it back partially to being able to order the cars when contracts are signed.

Most of the stuff I suggest seems so simple to put into scheduling.

[mbdog]

Farmaholic...IMO moving towards a more "open market" system is still the best, but you simply cannot reverse/demand change overnight to whats been built over decades/century. Under the circumstances, I for one think the Feds are doing a good job rolling this thing out, and also in terms of velocity of change. What's important is maintaining progress/pressure...buckets been doing a good job of maintaining awareness/beating the drum in this regard.

[ado089]

Farmaholic,every other business in the world has to find efficiency and innovation in order to do more with less. We've done our part by consolidating our shipping points, fuel is at a 5-6 year low and there is no risk of competition. We already pay $3600-3900/car to get our grain anywhere worth sending it. How much more should we pay? It's a neat buisness model though. Insurmountable barriers to entry then you give terrible service and demand a pay increase.

Dave I say you must not like arbitrage because you need open and easy flow of goods to have arbitrage, econ 111 my friend. You seem to be a staunch supporter of the rail companies so....

[farmaholic]

Exactly ado089..... how much more. I see it as a general lack of willingness on the RRs part, then you have people calling for a more "unregulated" system of grain movement. Odd thing is the competition bureau steps in when grain companies get bought and sold and are told they cant have too much market concentration in one single area. Same for the crop supply side of Viterra, but the RRs are supposed to be allowed to free rein? ?????? Why the hypocracy?

[farmaholic]

ado089. Remember, there have already been huge efficiency gains bynthe RRs. Greedy