STOP THAT S. T.. U... P.... I..... D...... hunger strike Jackson!!!

[bucket]

Tom

You should call CBC. They would pick up the story.

[TOM4CWB]

tweety,

Just like grain growers lack of grain rail service can't get decent coverage... do you truly suggest doing nothing is a solution?

WOW.

CEO Hunter is smooth... that southern drawl... just puts people right to sleep!!!

Who would have thought grain growers could so easily fall asleep to the song of a railroader... our canadian tendencies must really be being shown now!!!

Ahhh... Ehhhh... OK... take the farm... I didn't really want it anyway!!!

[TOM4CWB]

Bucket,

How about YOU call CBC.

Link them in.

My cell number is 780-238-4016.

You can be my publicity manager!!!

Thanks for that suggestion!!!

[dmlfarmer]

Tom: you keep talking about shipping "in an orderly manner" but seriously, who in your mind is organizing and overseeing your orderly manner?

We could have all the rail cars and pulling power in the world, that would not help a bit if farmers filled up the elevators and terminals with the wrong grain or grades.

And if you argue the market will tell farmers what to delivery I call BS. I can contract wheat delivery now for fall without any clue as to grade or protein level - just the discount/premium. And I will expect the company to take that delivery come fall regardless if they have sales because I have a contract. I have neighbors who deliver half their crop off the combine regardless of what is needed but simply because they contract delivery for then.

Basis should be the signal to deliver or hold but I can also book a basis contract and thereby bypass the signal not to deliver because I have a contract that tells me that basis signals can be ignored.

Seriously Tom, every farmer wants early delivery opportunities but not only our rail roads but our commercial system simply is not designed for the volume we now produce. Second,there is no one in charge of the system directing the system so it is everyone for themselves. Third, our marketing and pricing system is not doing the job it is supposed to do. So how will that ever lead to an orderly market system.

[charliep]

I don't think tweety is suggesting doing nothing. I suspect he is suggesting using social media to get the message out. I suspect that getting the message to the main stream media should be a major part of your communication strategy.

[TOM4CWB]

dml

I am not fussy about words that much! Thanks for the suggestion!

How about 'dependable' instead of 'orderly'?

[TOM4CWB]

dml,

If a motivated service based logistics handling system... used the infrastructure we now have already in place...

There is no reason at all why the 2014 crop should not have been delivered in a timely and efficient manner.

Yet you claim the infrastructure is not in place???

Many people have been laid off. equipment is sitting as the oil patch slumbers in comparitive terms to a year ago.

I can not accept your theory.

What facts do you have?

Why would 20 ships be sitting collecting demurrage in Vancouver... on the grain companies tab... if these folks and end users did not want our grain?

[riders2010]

If you would publicly state that the entire system is screwed up and that the current government has done nothing more to help the situation than the last ones people will take you serious and get on board. Including myself.

[dmlfarmer]

Tom wrote: "There is no reason at all why the 2014 crop should not have been delivered in a timely and efficient manner"

There is a huge reason why we could not have delivered all the 2014 crop by now. Canada has less than 20% commercial storage space! And out port terminal space is miniscule compared to all other grain exporting countries. Our system is pull based meaning until we have sales we simply cannot move our grain. Yet farmers still act as if we have a push system and feel they should be able to deliver what and when they want. And when the wrong grain is delivered it clogs up the system.

Without question the railroad is partially to blame but you ignore the fact that the railroads haul more than grain and that demands for movement is going up from all sectors. Farmers do not have exclusive rights or even first call for service. We are only guaranteed a level of service - what ever in the hell that means.

You also ignore the fact that the multinational companies selling our grain are also selling from many other exporting nations. They have no reason to sell Canadian grain first, in fact it is likely better for there bottom line to sell last. Australia for instance has nearly 2 years of grain storage, most of it commercial. If you were the CEO of a grain company, what would be your priority to move first - comopany owned grain in your own facility that you are paying interest, storage and risk on? Or grain in Canada that is farmer owned on his farm that you have no cost or risk on and that is 1500 miles from port?

And most important, our failure of our entire system to meet sales in a timely fashion is costing us future sales. Why should anyone buy from us if we can't deliver on a sales contract?

No railroads are a problem, but only part of the problem and until you wake up and look at the inefficiencies of the entire system it will only get worse.

[agchat]

Tom,in all honestly i must apologize for ribbing you so bad. I think most of us on here do agree with the grain movement problem, and would love to solve this problem. BUT you did lose some faith in some of us for basically saying in the read between the lines, that we were stupid for wanting the CWB. We all have the right to have our reasons, and mine was the marketing of grain with one voice. The rail would of still been an issue but a better chance of again I feel of a more head to head battle of it. I would be in panic mode to if I had to come up with almost a half a mil. Good Luck.