[commanderkai]

jeff744 jeff744:

They pay in tax dollars what you pay at the counter, you would be amazed how close to broke a lot of farmers already are.

Maybe so, maybe not. $6 billion in the United States is a drop in the very large bucket. The average American would pay about $20 more in tax to cover that per year (and that's assuming that every single American pays taxes). The extremely high price in food prices guarantees that the difference between the average US-Canadian food shopping bill be at least that, if not more, and that would be every time you go out and actually need a large amount of groceries (which, I would guess on my family's habits, would be every two weeks).

[commanderkai]

Lemmy Lemmy:

No, you don't notice the inflated prices. You pay a few extra dollars per year for your milk. A small price to pay to have a profitable, high quality, stable priced, local farming sector. The alternatives are subsidization or imported food. For anyone with half a brain in their head, paying an extra $50 bucks a year for your milk is a small price to pay for all the positive benefits. Tarzan say "Free market good, marketing board bad". Tarzan needs to take some 4th year econ courses and unlearn some 1st year simplicities.

Yes, you do notice the inflated prices. I'm assuming you don't do all that much cross border shopping? And it's not just milk, it's all dairy, eggs, meats, and a number of other food sectors.

[Lemmy]

No, I don't cross border shop. Why would I spend $50 in fuel to save $0.50 on a gallon of milk? But I did live in the states for the better part of 3 years and every time I was home, I smuggled some milk back with me because US milk tastes like shit.

[commanderkai]

Lemmy Lemmy:

No, I don't cross border shop. Why would I spend $50 in fuel to save $0.50 on a gallon of milk? But I did live in the states for the better part of 3 years and every time I was home, I smuggled some milk back with me because US milk tastes like shit.

Ahh the few advantages of living in Windsor. I'm not really sure what your issue with the taste of US milk, I enjoy it fine, but that's the quirks of being human.

Still, trying to argue that the prices of food aren't noticeably inflated is false. The differences are there, and they are quite noticeable. It's all the more jarring when you have special discount cards or wait for actual sales (or both). Are some of the lower prices due to subsidies? Probably, but Canadians are already using a system to keep Canadian farmers afloat, and it's not free by any sense of the word.

[RUEZ]

Hey Robair you posted the wrong title to that article. I'm sure it was an accident.

[Hyack]

RUEZ RUEZ:

Hey Robair you posted the wrong title to that article. I'm sure it was an accident.

Fixed

[BeaverFever]

commanderkai commanderkai:

Lemmy Lemmy:

No, I don't cross border shop. Why would I spend $50 in fuel to save $0.50 on a gallon of milk? But I did live in the states for the better part of 3 years and every time I was home, I smuggled some milk back with me because US milk tastes like shit.

Ahh the few advantages of living in Windsor. I'm not really sure what your issue with the taste of US milk, I enjoy it fine, but that's the quirks of being human.

So apparently, some people like the taste of artificial growth hormones. Who knew?

[raydan]

I'm with Lenny on this, but I'll give the anti wheat board group the benefit of the doubt. Time will tell if this is a good thing, or if the same farmers that are against the board are the ones asking for bailouts in a few years. One thing I'm sure of is that the consumer won't be seeing prices of wheat products go down.

[commanderkai]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

So apparently, some people like the taste of artificial growth hormones. Who knew?

Really? I just taste milk. It tastes like Canadian milk, except $3 cheaper. I must of missed the food analysis augment at the local LIMB clinic.

[BeaverFever]

Prediction: The independent wheat farmers will all move on to grow some other crop or stop farmnig all together and all Canadian wheat will be grown by just a handfull of big agri-business. Probably more (or most) of the crop will be Genetically Modified and there will be consequences for human and animal health and nutrition as a result, which they will of course deny.

[jeff744]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Prediction: The independent wheat farmers will all move on to grow some other crop or stop farmnig all together and all Canadian wheat will be grown by just a handfull of big agri-business. Probably more (or most) of the crop will be Genetically Modified and there will be consequences for human and animal health and nutrition as a result, which they will of course deny.

There will also be a noticeable drop in the economies of towns dependent on the small time farmer, and many smaller towns (I can already name several off the top of my head) will either die off completely or shrink drastically.

[Robair]

Hyack Hyack:

RUEZ RUEZ:

Hey Robair you posted the wrong title to that article. I'm sure it was an accident.

Fixed

Uh, no. I didn't. They have changed the article / link. The one I posted had an extensive interview with a Viterra exec and nothing about farmer's opinions in it.

Anybody that can operate a calculator can see how this is ending.

Buy Viterra stock.

[Robair]

Gee that's interesting. Can't find the original article anywhere. Guess Viterra didn't want to be percieved as "cheering for the end of the CWB". Might piss off a lot of prospective customers.

Check out the comments under the article:

$1:

BumcrackUSA
said

Ah... well big corporation is happy with this move. I don't know about you, but that reassures me!$!!!!!

DenPar
said

Trevor wrote... why was it only the Prairie farmers were subject to it? Ontario farmers (and other non-Prairie farmers) could sell their wheat and barley to whomever they wanted._____Very easy to answer Trevor... Ontario farmers were given the CHOICE to vote on eliminating the Board, through a vote by their Wheat Board. The removal of the single-desk was not rammed down their throat by a government that needs to brake the law to do so.With the CWB, Harper is doing the opposite... fighting tooth and nail to prevent a vote, guaranteed to the farmers by law.I guess in the East, we have more respect for our farmers.

Len
said

So, it seems, that this big deal was not to do anything for the farmer and producer. This whole thing is to do something for the business guys who contribute lots of $$$ to the Conservative (oops, Harper) government. Let's take care of business so they can ship profits elsewhere.

Comment one and three don't have much to do with the current article. Guess I should have copied the whole thing onto the first post.

[Robair]

So can we change the name of the thread to CTV News kisses Viterra posterior?

Viterra cheers end of Wheat Board, says it's ready to sign contracts

$1:

CALGARY - Grain handler Viterra Inc. said Friday it is ready to start marketing wheat and barley on behalf of growers right away, now that the Canadian Wheat Board no longer controls sales of those grains.

Legislation ending the Wheat Board's seven-decade monopoly over western wheat and barley sales became law late Thursday, which means Viterra can start signing contracts with farmers immediately.

"The Government of Canada has fulfilled its commitment to Prairie growers, taking a major step forward for western Canadian agriculture," Viterra CEO Mayo Schmidt said in a statement.

Viterra can start signing forward contracts for deliveries beginning Aug. 1, 2012.

The company (TSX:VT) has long marketed oilseeds, pulses, oats and other grains, and now it can do the same with wheat and barley without the board dictating price and logistical considerations, such as transportation.

"It just really expands to some degree what we've already been doing for the history of the company," Schmidt said in an interview.

Now farmers, and companies like Viterra that handle their crops, will have a greater say over how and when the products get to market.

For instance, it's much more cost-effective and efficient to bundle shipments of non-board controlled crops like canola and wheat if they're headed to the same place than to handle the shipments separately, Schmidt said.

"So it just creates a wholesome system as opposed to the more fragmentation system that we've had in the past."

The Harper government's Wheat Board move will allow Canada to compete more effectively on the world stage, Schmidt added.

"The more effective and efficiently we can get to those markets, the better that our farmers do, the better that our public and private companies in the sector do. It creates a more fluid system for greater revenues for all those that participate."

The company operates 82 grain and 258 agri-product facilities across Western Canada and it also has marketing offices worldwide. Viterra, formerly known as the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, has head offices in Regina and Calgary.


Read it on Global News: Global Edmonton | Viterra cheers end of Wheat Board, says it's ready to sign contracts

Not the same article, but close.

[BartSimpson]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Prediction: The independent wheat farmers will all move on to grow some other crop or stop farmnig all together and all Canadian wheat will be grown by just a handfull of big agri-business. Probably more (or most) of the crop will be Genetically Modified and there will be consequences for human and animal health and nutrition as a result, which they will of course deny.

Perhaps the small farms will give way to large farms. That's entirely possible. It's also not necessarily a bad thing. Just the same as small car manufacturers have mostly given way to big ones it may have been bad news to the people at Pierce-Arrow, Hupmobile, and Stanley (among others), but the price of cars relative to income levels dropped as production was centralized so the same happens with commodities like wheat.

As to 'genetically' modified that's nothing new. Both the cultivated wheat and corn of today bear little resemblance to their wild cousins due to selective breeding. Genetic enhancements usually take the form of taking a gene from one strain of tomato (for instance) that is resistant to spoilage and then adding it to a strain that tastes good. It's still a tomato and the splicing simply shortcuts the decades of cross breeding that used to be the norm in crop development. I've no doubt that Luther Burbank would've approved.