Feb 1st "B" Pool for feed barley

[TOM4CWB]

Incognito,

It is amazing to watch how on Feb 1, the CWB initials on feed barley dropped by $10/t...

What happened... the cash market in western Canada also dropped... just like clockwork.

[Incognito]

As your friend Mr. Beswick pointed out, the CWB should not be marketing barley.

And from time to time Tom, I have to remind myself that he said they were doing an "amazing" job marketing wheat.

[TOM4CWB]

Incognito,

The "Amazing job" includes an initial on feed wheat of $.81/bu for CW Feed Wheat over 58lbs, and $.17/bu under 58 down to 52lbs/bu in SK (Sample light weight feed wheat).[PRO of 3.21/bu minus $1.65/bu deductions for CW Feed wheat, Initial of $2.29/$1.65]

AS a person who actually walked and talked to Ken Beswick on the day he resigned... the "domestic feed grain policy" he was required to swallow (and caused him to resign), obviously included feed wheat.

Jim Prentice told all in the March 1998 senate presentation in Edmonton when he said:

"The present Canadian Wheat Board directors are appointed by the government to act pro bono in the public good. In effect, this includes running a national feed grain policy through the maintenance of a minimum carry out of barley at the end of each crop year, and the figure is used of around 2 million tonnes."

It is all too obvious why Mr. Beswick was scuttled on feed barley cash pricing.

As Ralph Goodale himself still sets the CWB initial prices today, and still maintains the right through the CWB Minister to tell CWB Directors to jump exactly one foot off the ground at his specific direction...

AS

Feed Barley and Feed Wheat are directly interchangeable in domestic feed rations, especially light weight feed wheat (as the energy is much closer to barley values).

When

The CWB could easily have secured and extracted premium prices on feed grain prices;

Corn and CBOT wheat prices were at very profitable prices last spring (04):

VERY easy cross hedges could have created easy sales programs for the PPO pre-priced contracts for feed grains.

I can not believe for an instant that a spring feed wheat PPO price of over $4/bu and $3/bu was not possible for 50lb/bu barley through the marketing tools avaliable to the CWB last spring.

A program could have easily been laid in of 3mmt for feed wheat, and 2mmt for feed barley, if the Federal "pro bono policy feed grain policy" did not still exist!

The CWB refuses to do this minimum requirement to keep our "designated area" grain farmers profitable!

Why is my conclusion wrong Incognito?

[Incognito]

On the day he pulled the pin, Tom, we had coffee at the Westin restaurant downstairs. On a trip to his farm in Costa Rica for a week in November, we discussed politics on the porch watching Mount Arenal everynight. He was contemplating pulling the pin even back then.

[TOM4CWB]

Incognito;

Some how the CWB MUST reform, and how this is done obviously requires a change in leadership.

I am particularily troubled with the lack of good will Goodale and gang have shown in reformation at the CWB!

So much could have been done... and Ken was a perfect candidate to have started the shift.

Here we sit today... unfortunately no closer to the CWB culture shift that must occur... than we were in April of 1996!

What a shame!

[charliep]

Just a note to highlight the barley study - The Alberta Barley Industry in Transition.

http://www.choicematters.gov.ab.ca/files/pdf/Barley_Study_April_04.pdf

The relevant price charts to this conversation are located in pages 62 to 74.