Farmer Association

[chas]

Rockpile well said. You wrote down what I've been trying to spell out for weeks to these people of little vision. I like your attitude you silver tongue devil you. Now there is more common sense surfacing here all the time. Chas

[Steve]

Hi!! I am back.





Continued farmer association.



6 We can utilize the already established grain handling and marketing institutions to sell our grain and oil seeds at the price set by the farmer association. I will clarify this procedure.

7 The well establish CWB would market our wheat and barley for export at our set price and there is no need for pooling or pricing by the board.

8 The CWB remains a none profit organization and will operate on a check off cost per tonne to the farmer. I am not sure that will generate the revenue to operate but it’s a start. The CWB will have the same function power for export as before but excluding the pricing and there is no need for pooling, because the association would set the price for all grades. Adopting this system all the exporting countries would compete in quantity, quality and service only. This area needs more work because the transportation cost to get the grain to the seaport could vary with the distance in the respective countries. The input cost may be greater in some countries and could offset the transportation cost in others, that is something to work on. We may have to revise some of this if we see that it not working efficiently.

9 The farmers would sell their grain and oil seeds to the already established grain elevator companies at the set price or higher but not lower than the one established by the association. The grain companies can add their bases to the price and resell on the futures commodity market as they are doing now. The CWB can market domestically but will have to go by the same rules as the open market. The CWB will police all the exports into the USA because of the free trade agreement and will issue free export permit if the exporter doesn’t violate the agreement. We have to be very careful with this one because we don’t want a big lineup of US trucks coming across the boarder and dumping grain into our system.

10 The individual farmers have the options to sell to any institution they choose but keeping in mind not to sell below the set price. This may not work a 100% because I am sure some farmers will sell at a lower price to get their banker off the doorstep, because they can’t wait for the right buyer to pay the set price. So we will have to convince the banker, that once we get establish in our new marketing system the farmers will be able to pay their bills on time.

11 Now with this marketing system we may not to be able to sell all our grain every year, but I don’t think that is such a bad thing. Grain in the bin is the same as money in the bank and we surely don’t spend our last dollar. Ian I think that was your comment someplace along the line if my memory serves me right. We may have to adjust our production to make our new system work.

12 We will not take our products off the market to get higher prices but will be for sale at our price same as a grocery store.

13 We will not block off roads or drive our combines to Ottawa and be a nuisance on the roads.

14 Farmers, we produce all the food and people always need to eat that makes our business the best in the world.

15 If we can harness this farmer association we would be the biggest organization in the world and bring some stability to the grain market. This would be good for everybody in the food chain. The processors would order a steady supply of grain knowing the price will not change within the year. The participating countries will have to compete with quantity, quality and service.



My typing finger is getting stressed out so I will stop and give it a rest, but will continue at a later date to clarify marketing details

[ianben]

Hi cm
By negative I mean that reform of the CWB is the ONLY way will solve your your problems!!!!
Where is your answer to the wheat as fuel question etc,
Something we could do TODAY.
Regards Ian.

[freebird]

Steve,

Grain in the bin may be the same as money in the bank to you, but it's not to me, unless you can convince my banker! One question: If I decided not to be a part of your association, and didn't follow it's rules, would I be thrown in jail???

fb

[parsley]

Steve, we could go on for months refining your proposal, and I it seems that it is well thought out. However, I need to know one thing up front.......are you proposing a mandatory system? Shouldn't be a difficult question for such a carefully developed plan. Yes or no.
Parsley

[Steve]

From: "Steve Mudryk" <smudryk@cable-lynx.net>
To: <smudryk@cable-lynx.net>
Subject: to all
Date: Friday, February 23, 2001 9:57 AM

To all

No you will not be thrown in jail for no reason at all.

No the farmer association is not mandatory and it is on a voluntary honor system.

The cost for the membership would be very minimal, just to cover the cost to register your number.

I do believe in democracy.

From: "Steve Mudryk" <smudryk@cable-lynx.net>
To: <smudryk@cable-lynx.net>
Subject: to all
Date: Friday, February 23, 2001 9:57 AM

To all

No you will not be thrown in jail for no reason at all.

No the farmer association is not mandatory and it is on a voluntary honor system.

The cost for the membership would be very minimal, just to cover the cost to register your number.

I do believe in democracy.

From: "Steve Mudryk" <smudryk@cable-lynx.net>
To: <smudryk@cable-lynx.net>
Subject: to all
Date: Friday, February 23, 2001 9:57 AM

To all

No you will not be thrown in jail for no reason at all.

No the farmer association is not mandatory and it is on a voluntary honor system.

The cost for the membership would be very minimal, just to cover the cost to register your number.

I do believe in democracy.


To all

No you will not be thrown in jail for no reason at all.

No the farmer association is not mandatory and it is on a voluntary honor system.

The cost for the membership would be very minimal, just to cover the cost to register your number.

I do believe in democracy.

[Steve]

Hi
sorry I was using the copy and paste system and it got away on me.

[AdamSmith]

Hi, I've been reading along for a bit now and decided to register and join the fray. Wanting to comment on Steve's farm association. A red flag goes up in my head any time I hear someone with big plans to change the world to suit their needs. Most if not all people who set out to change the world fail. When Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of the bus, the only thing on her mind was that she didn't want to sit in the back of the bus and thought she had every right not to. She wasn't out that day to change the world, but because of her and others small action the world was changed. Farmers will be far better off the quicker they all realize there is no grand scheme out there to improve our lot in life. But if there is something revolutionary out there it will start off with someone refusing to sit on the back of the bus.

[charliep]

Note to ianben.

sorry for missing your point about McDonalds. It is such an active site, it is easy to miss discussion. Your comments about how you have changed your business to meet the market in terms of straw hit close to home. A major part of by brothers is small square hay bales for the Calgary hobby farm and race horse market.

Yes McDonalds does price differentiate in different markets.

Before I get into adding to this discussion is the fact that a McDonalds hamburger tastes the same no matter where you go in the world. They sell their product on consistency, taste (a bit of a paradox for me but they seem to be popular) and image. They also do consumer research in different regions and price to demand. The cost side will also very with different regions. My guess is that McDonalds looks at what they can charge in that region, their cost of operation and profit potential - the decision is go/no go to locate there.

Comments,

1) Even with their market share/power, McDonalds still has to price to the market. Their profits come from efficiency and volume versus price. They are for the most part a commodity based market (profit based on large sales of consistent quality product at low margins) versus value based (smaller sales of high quality at high margins).
2) McDonalds doesn't carry inventory - they let you guys/suppliers do that. Everything is based on through put/just in time arrival of ingrediants
3) If a restraunt doesn't make the profit margins required by the company it gets shut down or new management is brought in - from others experience, restraunts are about the cruelest/most cutthroat business you can get involved in.
4) An interesting comment is that McDonalds doesn't run the restraunts. They provide products, management training/skills, a name people can recognize, etc. to investers - in some sense the ultimate value chain. They leave very little freedom at the restraunt level except to execute the program they have developed - hence the consistency of product. I can smell the flame mail already but it is basically what is happening in the hog industry.

Others thoughts.

[Steve]

Hi



I am starting to realize this is truly a coffee shop. We can all act like the opposition Government members, because they all talk up a storm how they would change the world to make a better place to live, but at the same time knowing that they don’t have to produce and there is not enough money to do so. Coffee shop talk has nothing to gain or lose and in some cases creates more problems but is one way people can pass time away.

We all know it doesn’t mater how hard we try to correct the wrong because some one will still be unhappy, that is human nature. I don’t know how many of you people interpreted the way I intended my proposed theory in the farmer association. I tried to accommodate very body’s needs and most ideas. I know it wouldn’t work a 100% but just maybe in the next 100 years part of it could be used.

If all the people were good, just think there would be no need for the democratic Government to legislate laws to protect people from each other. We all know that in this big world there are the GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY and that is why we have to enforce the laws even some don’t think so.

Most of the contracts and legislated laws are based on gentlemen agreements but contain clauses to protect people from abusing each other. This theory could be applied to all our ideas as we discuss the wrongs in the farming business.

This is the way I back up farmers when I am at the coffee shop and some none farmer is giving me a bad time about farmers making big money and still cry about everything. I compare to something he can understand and tell him if you buy as house with borrowed money in the spring and try to resell it in the fall for more than you paid and if you can’t you still have to keep up the monthly payments. That is the gamble the farmer works with every year.

I am going to stop writing because golfing season is just around the corner and go to the golf dome and retrain my clubs, because they seem to forget what they did last year. I know there is nothing wrong with me but something is not right with those clubs. I arrived that theory because I am still a farmer at heart.



Good luck to all you farmers and hope the next year will be a better one.



Regards Steve.

[parsley]

Glad to have your comments Adam Smith. The big grand schemes out there are the ones with the biggest repercussions. I'm glad you make some points and take an interest.. What Steve said on another thread, "Most people are like sheep and a good leader can convince them to fallow regardless", has perhaps been the pattern followed by the farm community but I sense this has changed considerably in the last 5 or 6 years. You for one, don't blindly accept, Adam Smith.

I understand in Saskatchewan that they have a new producers association that is very grand-idea-ed indeed. These "One-Voice" boys call a meeting in a municipality to "discuss" forming a big farmers' union that will speak for all producers. One single voice. That kind if sales pitch. Meantime, the average municipal taxpyer doesn't attend, not knowing there is going to be a tax-levy vote. They stack the chairs with their "supporters", call a vote, and levy a local municipal tax against the local landowner. Their proposed budget for /01 is $1.7M and for the years following $6-7M/yr. Not small peanuts. No wonder some guys are gun shy. Don't take it personally if you get some good comments Steve. Be pleased that farmers are'nt sheep.

Parsley

[AdamSmith]

Your right about being gun shy Parsley.
APAS, Focus on Sabatical, Grain Cartels,Legislative sit-ins,Rally Groups. I've taken to hiding under my bed! Ok, grain prices stink and I wish they were much higher but any time some new idea surfaces with the intent on getting the farmer more money for their grain than what the world market has discoverd that price to be, it always involves either taking someone else's money (the taxpayers) and giving it to farmers or laying on the regulations with their penalties for non-compliance so thick the individual initiative is all but squelched out. Pooling started out as a voluntary concept but soon became manditory through the CWB. A grand scheme indeed. How is it possible that so many farmers are suffering when such a powerful farmers organization exists?

Sorry for being so abrubt Steve, but my freedoms on the line every time someone says "We could control the market if we just do...."
AdamSmith

[chas]

Boys for freedom, give me my human rights and don't mess with me man attitude are being taken to the cleaners every day. The biggest grand scheme of all time was when the commodities market was established and it wasn't even a farmer that though it up. You won't trust anything else but you'll trust the commodities market. Give your head a shake. We won't change that system unless the world relizes the value of food and sets a sustainable price on it. We have some well read people on this website but all they can do is attack the CWB for the past and their future.
Most of your questions relate to export trade that no one has much control over as governments have their protective rules. God if we ever come to an agreement half of government would be unemployed around the world. Ever see one of the trade meetings, half the people in the world are there sitting on the hands wishing they could go for lunch. I think I'll go golfing with Steve. My farm is alot more productive than this discussion is and besides I think I like the marketing system we have better and better all the time. Chas

[ianben]

Hi Chas
What do you think about wheat as a green fuel ???

I see we are not going to set up our new world here today.

I will admit not now but not never.

A green fuel, does that not have possibities, I thought Canada had problems meeting it's Kyoto comitments???

I started a new thread above I would be pleased to hear your comments.

Regards Ian