Vader... Sunday...FOOD for thought

[cottonpicken]

Ah the societal conunudrum of left verses right.

The little hen planted the seeds, watered them,plowed them,harvested them,baked the bread and when it came time to enjoy the bread all the other animals came to the the little hens door and asked for a slice.

The little hen said did you help me?Do you deserve this bread?

The other animals looked at eachother in disbelieve and dragged the hen out of her house,cut her throat and made chicken sandwiches.

Sometimes there is no right answer.


MEERRRRRRYYYY CCCHHHRRRIISSTTMMMASSS!!!!

[parsley]

FOOD FOR THOUGHT from the National Post:

Quote:
Track the agri sector
Barry Critchley, Financial Post
Published: Monday, December 24, 2007

Judging by the flurry of recent issues, agriculture may be the next asset class.

Last Wednesday, trading in the country's first exchange-traded fund dedicated to agriculture -- The Clay-more Global Agriculture ETF-- started on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Investors are being offered a return that corresponds to the performance of the MFC Global Agriculture Index.

That index has been developed by MFC Global, the investment management arm of Manulife, and measures the return from investing in equity and equity-related securities involved in the agricultural sector. In selecting and weighting the companies, MFC Global employs what it calls a "proprietary bottom-up selection process."

The plan is to have a portfolio of about 35 stocks with no one stock having more than a 9% weight. (The portfolio is rebalanced every quarter.)As of the end of November, the average market cap of each investment was $10-billion; with average P/E ratios of 24.3, with the average price to book value being 3.6 times. The index is dominated by U.S. companies (54%). Canada is second-largest with a 15% share, Potash Corp. having a 9% weight.

Potential stocks cover fertilizers and agricultural chemicals; construction, farm machinery and heavy trucks; and packaged foods and meats. Other companies derive a large part of their sales from the raising of livestock, fish farming, and the manufacturingofplanting, harvesting, crop protection and irrigation systems. Claymore's ETF is known as COW. (Presumably DOG was unavailable.)

Earlier, Ceres Global Ag Corp. filed a final prospectus that allows it to raise a maximum of $300-million from the sale of $12 units (each unit consisting of a share plus a share purchase warrant.) The idea is to generate long-term capital appreciation, "through global exposure to agricultural assets involved in the supply and demand chains of the agricultural sector and sector influenced industries." The manager -- Front Street Capital -- is allowed to pick companies involved in crop and animal production, agrichemicals and fertilizers, farm machinery, equipment, transportation and storage, food processing, distribution and retailing, biofuels and other agribusinesses; and agricultural commodities. The manager is also allowed to invest in non-public companies.

The word is that more than $125-million has been raised, which will rise to the extent that the warrants, which run for three years, are exercised.

Before those two deals, Navina Capital brought the Global Agribusiness Trust to market. That trust, which raised $40-million via the sale of $10 units, was formed to provide investors with exposure to the returns of an actively managed, diversified portfolio comprised primarily of 40-60 equity securities that are engaged in the demand and supply chains of the global agribusiness industry. The idea is to pay out 5% in distributions a year and generate long-term capital appreciation. Lawrence Asset Management is the portfolio manager. Assiniboia Farmland LP3, a fund that restricts its investment to farmland in Saskatchewan, closed its first public offering with $11-million in the kitty.

The Canadian experience has been mirrored in the U.K. Last month, the UK's first listed commodity derivatives fund -- the Ceres Agriculture Fund -- raised about $134-million. The group will invest in agricultural commodity contracts.UNQUOTE

bcritchley@nationalpost.com

Parsley

[ado089]

Ah college...There's nothing wrong with a well deserved 2.0, I have a few of those myself but what really stings is when your 3.0 gets knocked down to a 2.0 because there's a curve and four pre-med students ruin it for the rest of the class. What be said about that?

[TOM4CWB]

ado089,

Be glad medical students are smart/have to have it together to be health care administrators!

If they only did their work right... half the time... the result would not be good!