A new "designated area" grain marketing system.

[TOM4CWB]

Charlie et al,

Suppose we had $1 billion in resourses, and were encouraged to form a new marketing system to replace the "single desk" we work with on wheat and barley.

What would the best and most productive system of marketing consist of?

1.) Production Contracts that facilitate marketing of our produce... to match production to consumption;

2.) A stable pricing and monetary system that reliably pays grain growers for our produce;

3.) A quality control system that Identifies strengths and rewards growers who produce value for the end users who consume our produce;

4.) A transparent system that matches the intrinsic benefits of growing the varied & different types of wheat, barley, and non-board grains... which will maximise the returns from these different classes of grains... for both the growers and the end users.

5.) A handling and transortation system that most efficiently delivers our produce to end users, in a form and manner, when and where they need our products;

6.) Innovation that maximises the value of growing our grain products in our local communities;

7.) Produce that has high food safety and environmental/ethical standards incorporated into all stages of the production, processing, and delivery systems we utilise.

[wilagro]

By all means replace the "marketing tool" you have now with another "marketing tool" which will do the same thing as we have now.

Idiots, ALL.

[charliep]

wilagro

I like your strategic thinking. Something like the captain of the Titanic. Iceberg. What iceberg? This ship can withstand anything.

Interesting I was looking at notes from the CWB combine to consumer meetings in January. These issues are being talked about in the current world and will need to be talked about in the future. Hopefully, strategic planning will take more of an industry focus similar to Canadian Canola Council activities.

Always interesting to compare an organization that gets their power from concensus/cooperation and another that gets their power from regulation/carrying a big to enforce policy.

[parsley]

Is this idea born from some of the same bureaucrats that centrally planned cod fishing in the Maritimes and want to duplicate the very same exercise, but customize it to agriculture?

Central planning like that Tom4cwb, belongs in Nicaraqua.

Parsley

[lakenheath]

Wilagro,

At least Tom puts thought and effort into his posts. It is easy to call someone an idiot. Your comment might carry some clout if you backed it with some insightful information that refutes what Tom is trying to say.

[charliep]

parsley

I didn't read Tom4cwb's ideas as a recipe for the industry but rather some guiding principles as to important things that need to be accomplished. It provides a starting point for both looking at the current system and looking at alternatives down the road.

[parsley]

Want to discuss #5?

5.) A handling and transortation system that most efficiently delivers our produce to end users, in a form and manner, when and where they need our products;

The Canada Grain Act/ CWB Act have made the railroads what they are.
Not too much free enterprise here, when you are designated as a works for the general advantage of Canada

Government planning replaced by more government planning?

Probably a billion in today's dollars spent in the first planning

You want more of the same charliep?

Or is Government going to plan it right this time?

[charliep]

These are tom4cwb points but will toss in my two bits. At face value and not judging what the process/results will be, I think this statement says what needs to be accomplished. The next stage is how it is done. It may be quite proper and right that a deregulated system that is allowed to operate efficiently is the way to go. Right now, the statement is that Canada needs an efficient/low cost supply chain. I can't disagree with this. What is the role of government and how it is set up are all up for discussion.

[TOM4CWB]

Parsley,

There must have been some Wilagro pepper on your veggies at lunch today!

Bless you for that sneeze!

[charliep]

Parsley - Just to show we are maybe on the same side, I note that tom4cwb starts with the assumption government will provide $1 bln. Why does the industry need $1 bln to be doing what it should be doing anyway? Wouldn't you expect government to be more in a farmers face and in control of acivities if their are taxpayers dollars involved? If there was $1 bln to be had, would farmers farmers invest in the industry carte blanc with no control or would they rather see the money directly and make their own investment decisions?

[TOM4CWB]

Charlie;

I couldn't agree more... that grain growers and market forces should drive the development of the "new" system.

Western Canadian grain growers are burdened by one of the highest cost tax and regulatory systems globally.

We pay enough tax through the inputs on our farms... that it is only reasonable to credit back a fair portion that the feds and provinces taken... and give us individually the opportunity to buy back some of the assets that have taken from us over the past 10 years.

[cottonpicken]

Great thread!!!!!!!!!

Incredibly funny,lakenheath you are a genius.

[parsley]

charliep,

The role of Government has a 50 year track record.

Can we learn from it?

I would hope so.

I am consistent, charliep.

I do not want more of the same. No matter the Government, the result has been consistent...everyone makes money but the farmer. Farmers cannot afford it.

So any Government, even the Green Party focused on replanning, meeting, designing, discussing, promoting, writing, data-entering, navel-gazing, or dictating a new vision like Tom4CWB has presented, has but one rut to follow. Intentions might be honorable, but they are misguided.

Central planning cannot birth a free market. Memorize it.

Parsley

[winwin]

Of course it can Parsley.Somebody must have 'planned' to give the prairies away to ahalf million farm families.

That created amarket.Unfurtunately,somebody else'planned'to steal all the grain in 1943 after the work was all done bringing the land into production.

But to be fair,a market is not the absence of GOVT but the proper function of govt.Property,justice,freedom of trade.The protection of life and liberty all require a'right size' of govt.

The cwb is the use of these powers to take rights AWAY.

[parsley]

winwin, You leave me speechless.

We actually agree.

Parsley