A New Appointed Director to the CWB

[AdamSmith]

Minister Strahl Announces Appointment of New Director to the Canadian Wheat Board

OTTAWA, Ontario, November 28, 2006 - The Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board, today announced the appointment of Glen Findlay to the Board of Directors of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB).

"Mr. Findlay's considerable experience in farming and public service will be a tremendous asset to the Board of Directors of CWB," said Minister Strahl. "I am pleased he has accepted this appointment to the CWB Board of Directors at this crucial time as marketing choice is being implemented."

Mr. Findlay holds a Masters degree in Animal Nutrition from the University of Manitoba and a Doctorate in Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of Illinois. He has been involved in a family-run farm operation in Shoal Lake, Manitoba, for almost 40 years and also served as Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1986 to 1999. For over 10 years he served in the Manitoba Cabinet, first as Minister of Agriculture and then as Minister of Highways and Transportation.

Mr. Findlay is one of five government appointees to the CWB Board of Directors.

Canada's New Government remains committed to moving forward on its promise to provide farmers with a choice in how they market their products and will do so in an open and transparent way. For information on the new government's path towards marketing choice, please visit www.agr.gc.ca/cwb.

[parsley]

So I'm assuming this guy is on board with marketing choice.How many directors do we have now that are dual marketers,and how many more do we need.

[AdamSmith]

NFUer, Glen is as solid as they come when it comes to marketing choice. Was a cabinet minister in the Filmon government when they deregulated the hog industry.

His appointment makes it 4 appointed directors who support choice. 1 liberal appointee is for choice, and Strahl has now appointed 3.

Chateney makes 5

Anderson from district 7 if re-elected makes 6.

Assuming Strahl will very soon replace Measner with a solid market choice person, that will be 7.

All we need is one more to make the changes happen fast.

So we need two choice candidates to win in this years election.

What are people hearing?

The anecdotal evidence I'm hearing from district 9 sounds encouraging so far, for what that's worth.

[AdamSmith]

CP, would you say the European farm economy is as it was back in 1900?

What about the American farm economy? same as 1900?

What about the South American or the Asian? is it 1900 there? They all function under a free market system with respect to buying and selling grain?

Give me one example of where you draw your opinion from.

And explain to me, like I mean really explain with lots of relevant examples as to where the current system has given "farmers control" over anything?

CP, I'm really trying to understand you, really. But I don't get were your coming from.

You seem to have devoted much energy in understanding and trading commodities yet you obviously don't believe in the system in which you are participating in and putting so much money at risk in.

How can you trade wheat or gold or oil if you believe there are a only a few companies controling the price?

Are you not afraid of them taking you to the cleaners? wiping you out? Your in a game you have no "control over" why do it when you can't win?

You can't be nearly as big and as liquid as Exxon or Cargill or are you?

Why are you trading commodities when there is no way for you to beat the big boys?

And one more question, do you farm? If not what do you do?

You have to admit it's a bit confusing for alot of us because you come across as a pure capitalist one minute and then a raving NFU type socialist the next. What gives?

[lesm]

Most wheat exporting countries of the world are all enjoying a substancial rise in wheat prices except for here in Canada. I'm not an expert in grain marketing but I don't think that I could have done any worse of a job in selling my wheat than those clowns in Winnipeg( Based on current pros). I don't think there is anything to lose by total dismantling this current CWB.

[liberty]

Is it 1900 for canola, oats, flax, or any other crop not under CWB control? No? Then it's pretty unlikely that it will be 1900 all over again if we wind up with a dual market for wheat and barley.

The outlook right now for canola and oats is surprisingly good. So good, in fact, that "coffee shop" talk indicates farmers will be growing anything but wheat, given the CWB's latest PRO's.

Thanks to the CWB single desk, for wheat and barley growers it's the year 1900 all day, every day.

[SASKFARMER3]

I have to agree too, that if its 1900 why is canola feed barley oats all climbing on world and Canadian market but wheat is staying low and only will take 80% yet all over the place you read how their is a shortage of wheat yet our wonderful CWB give us scrap prices.
As far as dropping wheat it is starting to look pretty clear that if we cant achieve a premium in a year the world is out of wheat then we never will so probably seeding the farm to 4 crops oats barley canola and peas and dropping durum hrs and trying for malt barley.

[Lifer]

In the scenario above I don't believe CP has let anyone know what his opinion on the scenario actually is.

Today there is more information and options then early 1900. What power is being given up?

[cottonpicken]

Well Adam i am a full time farmer and part time trader.
Lets get a few things strait:
1-i do believe it is a producers right to do what ever he wants with his product
2-i do believe monopolies are inherently powerful and good to be apart of and hard to oppose.Do you think microsoft or opec are weaker because of there position?
3-our fore fathers gave us the cwb for a very good reason.Why did they support it so strongly?
4-if the board is up to no good then shouldn't our energies be put towards fixing it.Constant critisim and questioning is good.
5-comparing canola,flax and oats to wheat is a little unfair.They dont call it king for nothing.
6-marketing is not easy.It is a well knowen fact that 99% of traders dont make money in the market

I do think some changes need to be made but lets not burn any bridges.

[AdamSmith]

Thanks CP

I must dispute is your point #3 which you said “our fore fathers gave us the cwb for a very good reason. Why did they support it so strongly?”

Our fore fathers gave we just as divided back in the twenties and thirties as we are today. The feds set up the CWB in 1935 as a voluntary marketing agency. It operated from 1935 until Sept. 1943 within the open market system. But in 1943, during WWII, the federal government closed the wheat market in Winnipeg because the price of wheat was rising. Canada had commited to supply Britian with wheat as one of it’s contributions towards Victory but very little wheat was being offered to the CWB that year because the open market was paying substantially more. The CWB was paying 90 cents per bushel, the open market had risen to $1.23 per bushel by September. This was costing the government too much money so on Sept 27 1943 the Feds closed the Winnipeg wheat market down and took over all wheat stocks. The feds said things would revert back to a voluntary cwb after the war, but they never did because the Canadian Government signed the British Wheat Agreement to supply Britian with cheap wheat which pegged the price of wheat at $1.55 for the duration of the agreement (1946-1950) by 1947 wheat on the open market was trading at $2.75.

Barley was brought into the cwb in 1947 because very little wheat was going to be planted the next year because open market barley prices were above the CWB/British Wheat Agreement price. So the feds put barley under the board and lowered the price.

Why did some farmers still support the CWB monopoly even after they saw it kept prices down?

Same reasons as today. Hatred of the Grain Companies, hatred of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, envy of other farmers selling for more. They couldn’t deal with the fluctuations of the open market. That part is no different.


Cottonpicken, I would like to recommend you find a copy of THE EXCHANGE – 100 Years of Trading Grain in Winnipeg by Allan Levine. This book was written in 1987 long before the dual market debate got into full swing. It’s an excellent read and when I read it back in 1987 at the age of 22, my eyes were opened up big time. I’ve been an advocate of the open market in wheat and barley ever since.


Here’s a little excerpt. “Responding to their complaints, as translated and amplified by the leaders of various agrarian movements, the federal government appointed no less than six Royal Commissions between 1899 and 1936 to investigate the grain trade. Each time, the Exchange was vindicated, but farmers still demanded that the open market system be replaced by a state-controlled wheat board. In 1943, partly as a result of wartime exigencies, their wishes were granted and the federal government assumed total control of wheat marketing”


Think about the bridges that were burned in 1943?