KILLING THE CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD: Harper

Re: KILLING THE CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD: Harper

Postby Oscar » Wed Oct 07, 2015 4:36 pm

Western Canadian Farmers are Losing Billions Without the Farmer-Owned and Controlled Single-Desk CWB

[ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/2015-election-f ... ishidings/ ]

GRAPH: [ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/wp-content/uplo ... evenue.jpg ]

Western grain producers lost an estimated $3.1 billion in 2013/14 and losses for 2014/15 are projected to exceed $2 billion because of inefficiencies in grain handling, transportation, and marketing caused by eliminating the CWB. (Richard Gray, Agriculture Economist, University of Saskatchewan)

Data from the CWB’s independently audited statements shows that farmers on the prairies received about 90% of the Vancouver price with the CWB system. Now they get only 41% of the Vancouver price with the grain companies taking the rest.
Prairie farmers’ share of the world price has dropped since the Harper government seized the farmer-owned CWB and then gave it to Saudi Arabia and Bunge.

Our Rural Communities are Losing Millions
– A Manitoba Example –

In 2013, farmers in the Swan River Valley grew an 11 million bushel bumper crop of wheat. Using the loss of $4.69 per bushel the total loss of revenue to the Swan River area is over $50 million for the 2013-2014 crop year.

Blending, Protein Premiums, Fusarium Programs

Since the elimination of the CWB, blending of the entire crop no longer benefits farmers. Now blending revenues go to the grain companies. There is no longer a fusarium program to market fusarium infected wheat. Protein premiums from the grain companies to farmers have been little to none.

Here is what Andrew Dennis, Friends of the CWB, said about protein premiums farmers used to get, "In the 2010/11 crop year, for example, the CWB premium for 15.5% protein CRSW #1 was $3.46/ bushel extra. This is $173 more per acre for just protein on a 50 bushel per acre crop."

The Vancouver Situation

Now when a ship docks in Vancouver to load wheat it sometimes has to go back to anchor six times or more before fully loaded. Without the CWB single-desk, the system operated by the grain companies is costly, inefficient, and causes poor railway performance.

Until Ottawa killed it in 2011, the CWB received extra money for the timely loading of wheat on ocean going vessels and farmers got that money. Now farmers have to pay for the grain companies’ failure to fill the ships on time.

The Thunder Bay Situation

What is happening at Thunder Bay? Not much. When the CWB sold our grain Thunder Bay was filled over the winter so it was ready to go in the spring. Now workers are idle and it sits empty. The CWB moved grain by rail to the St. Lawrence terminals in winter. This eastern rail movement no longer happens and grain companies have no desire to carry the cost of storing grain. All that grain must now move during warm weather and we will likely see yet another year of problems with grain transportation.

Churchill

The port of Churchill has significant advantages to Manitoba farmers (a $26.00 per tonne freight advantage) and since eliminating the CWB the federal Government has put in place a $10.00 per tonne subsidy for grain shipped through Churchill. This subsidy ends in 2016, so what happens to Churchill after that?

Did you know that until the Conservatives killed the Canadian Wheat Board in 2012 almost all the bread, pasta, and beer consumed in Canada was made with grain grown on the prairies? The farmer-controlled CWB leveled the playing field for local processors. Now processors buy the cheapest grain they can and import it by the ship load.

Crippling Our Ability To Produce

The Great Canadian Research Burning

The Conservatives have destroyed the following Agriculture and Agri-Food research stations:

Bouctouch Agricultural Research Farm, Bouctouch, NB.
The Cereal Research Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Frelighsburg Sub-station Research farm, Frelighsburg, QC.
Kapuskasing Research Farm, Kapuskasing, Ontario
Delhi Research Farm, Delhi, Ontario
Kamloops Research Centre, Kamloops, B.C.
The Onefour Cattle Range Research Centre in Alberta
Agriculture Research Centre Libraries

Two years ago the effective closing of Agriculture Canada’s Winnipeg Cereals Research Center, the firing of one third of the staff, and the transfer of the remaining staff to Brandon and Morden were part of this disturbing trend.

The Great Canadian Book Burning

Harper has burnt 16 Federal research libraries covering fresh water, health, and agriculture, most recently at Lacombe, Swift Current, and Lethbridge, destroying generations of scientific work. Little to none of this critical information was saved on computers before it was destroyed.

Firing Plant Breeders, other Scientists, Food Inspectors, Librarians, and Support Staff

In the past two years over 1,300 people have lost their jobs at Agriculture Canada, mostly plant breeders, other scientists, agricultural research assistants, research librarians, inspectors, and support staff. This is in addition to the dozens of scientists and food inspectors fired in 2012 and 2013. Our food is much less safe now. Scientists are scrambling for funding, and the future of public interest plant breeding is in doubt.

The internationally recognized Canadian International Grains Institute (CIGI) is facing an uncertain future. With privatization its reputation for integrity and objectivity is at risk. In short the City of Winnipeg is fast losing its position as the center of the Canadian grain industry.

The End of Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act Support for the Rural Environment

Harper has closed 24 Federal Agricultural Offices across Canada and killed the Community Pasture Program. He ended the Tree Nursery and shelterbelt program which held back the desert. Federal support for water development, drainage, and wetland enhancement is all but gone.

Harper eliminated the PFRA and closed its offices. The PFRA met the needs of farmers living in the arid prairie region. The PFRA constructed the Gardner dam which provides water to southwestern Saskatchewan for people, irrigation, and recreation. Feedlot alley in southern Alberta is entirely dependent on PRFA’s St. Mary dam as are most of the area’s irrigation farms.

Experienced PFRA staff gave technical assistance for water projects to rural landowners. PFRA also provided financial assistance for wells, water pipelines, community and RM water systems, dugouts, and pumping systems.

The PFRA operated community pastures and the Indian Head tree nursery. It provided seedlings to more than 700,000 clients since its inception and still sends out more than three million trees a year. “There still is a demand,” said Lorne Scott, a former provincial Environment Minister and current conservation director with Nature Saskatchewan. “A lot of existing shelterbelts are old and past maturity.” They will need replacement.

The End of Crop Insurance

Agriculture Minister Ritz is on record as saying farmers should buy their own crop insurance. Currently crop insurance premiums are split between the farmer, their Provincial and the Federal governments. We believe that the Harper conservatives want to privatize crop insurance.

Here are two crop insurance contracts from SK and MB for 80% coverage of 50/50 canola and RS wheat and excess moisture insurance:
***Please go to Original URL above for this chart****
$/acre Sk Farmer Sask Gov. & Ottawa Total
$20.16 $27.84 $48.00


$/acre Mb Farmer Mb Gov. & Ottawa Total
$11.68 $16.12 $27.80


Do you trust Ritz and Harper to keep using government money to support your crop insurance costs? Can you afford forty-eight thousand dollars or more in private crop insurance for every thousand acres you farm?

Ritz and Harper have already drastically changed the margin calculations for Agri-Stability to make it more difficult to trigger pay outs. The government contribution to Agri-Invest has also been slashed.

Supreme Court Allows Class Action

Western Canadian farmers have served a statement of claim in the Federal Court of Canada alleging Ottawa shortchanged farmers by approximately $720 million of farmers’ money from the operations of the Canadian Wheat Board in 2011/12 when the government was dismantling the marketing organization.

Previous audited financial statements of the Canadian Wheat Board show that when the elected farmers were running the CWB more than 90% of sales revenue was returned to farmers between 1998 and the 2010/11.

For the first time in 79 years the Minister of Agriculture decided to withhold the financial results of the CWB for the 2012/13 crop year. So it is impossible to follow the money as the CWB was transformed from a farmer-run and accountable organization to another foreign-owned and secretive margin trader.

“The lack of farmer oversight at the Board table, together with the Minister’s cover-up of CWB finances makes it imperative that the class action move ahead in order to determine what really happened to the money farmers should have earned from their grain sales in 2011/12.” said Stewart Wells, chairperson of the Friends of the CWB.

A vote for Conservatives is a vote for:

Less money for Canadian farmers
[ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/2015/02/grain-c ... m-farmers/ ]

Book burning
[ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/2015/08/burning ... he-future/ ]

Ending public interest science
[ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/2014/09/weeds-o ... stitution/ ]

Ending PFRA water and environment support
[ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/2015/03/grasslands-matter-too/ ]

Taking control of grain genetics away from farmers and Canadians and giving it to the agro-chemical-seed companies
[ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/public-plant-breeding/ ]

Introducing Genetically Modified wheat
[ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/2012/04/trashin ... the-table/ ]

Less Canadian control of the food we eat
[ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/2014/01/ottawas ... n-farmers/ ]

Less inspectors, less food safety
[ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/2012/01/it-is-a ... -to-wheat/ ]


Giving the CWB to Saudi Arabia and Bunge
[ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/2015/04/ritz-gi ... ting-icon/ ]


What Can You Do? Vote for Change

Our wheat marketing system was once the envy of the world. Now it is dysfunctional. It is time for the Harper government to be held accountable for the systematic destruction of western Canada’s farmer directed and owned Wheat Board marketing system.

Join the CWB Alliance and others in calling for the re-establishment of the CWB single-desk marketing system

For more information go to:
http://www.cwba.ca
Box 125 Hussar, AB T0J 1S0
contact@cwbafacts.ca
Oscar
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Re: KILLING THE CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD: Harper

Postby Oscar » Fri Nov 20, 2015 8:41 am

Key issues for grain producers in the CTA review

[ http://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-o ... ta-review/ ]

By Harvey Brooks Author Harvey Brooks is ED of the Sask Wheat Commission.

Published: November 16, 2015

Excepted from the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission’s Fall newsletter

In July, Sask Wheat, Sask Barley and APAS hosted the 2015 Farmer’s Forum on Transportation in Saskatoon, an event which focused discussion on the current Canadian Transportation Act review, which is scheduled for completion in December. The forum brought together some of the most informed presenters in the area of grain transportation and handling issues.

My top takeaways from the conference are as follows:

1) Railways are a vital “utility” for the health and growth of the western Canadian economy. Most of our export-driven growth potential will depend on the availability of affordable and dependable transportation and the only realistic option for most commodities is rail shipment to the West Coast.

2) Failure to plan for future West Coast export movement will not only have serious repercussions for western Canadian grain producers but also for many sectors of the economy.

3) The maximum revenue entitlement (MRE) or railway revenue cap guarantees railways a fair return on investments and operations for grain shipments, but does not guarantee good service to grain handlers and ultimately producers.

4) Producers are paying their fair share for grain transportation and then some. In 2013-14 producers paid more than $322 million over what was deemed fair and adequate for grain movement under the Western Grain Transportation Act.

5) Removing the rail revenue cap would mimic the environment in the United States, which has seen steady upward growth in rail rates since 2002. U.S. rail rates have increased 70 per cent for large car spots and 80 per cent for small car spots from 2002-13. This is the largest growth in U.S. rail rates for any commodity except coal.

6) Increasing rail rates did not provide increased service levels in the U.S. Higher rates and increased railway profitability have not led to improved service for grain shippers in the U.S., nor have they for non-regulated rail shipments in Canada.

7) The lack of export grain transportation and handling capacity has cost Prairie producers a conservative estimate of at least $5 billion since 2013-14, as the higher export basis resulted in lower farm gate prices.

8) In order for the market to operate more effectively, more transparency is required in pricing, sales, movement and shipments.

9) The MRE, or railway revenue cap, is at risk under the CTA review.

10) Producers want the MRE maintained and they also want a formal railway costing review to determine the appropriate level for the MRE.

11) Producers want their interests represented in the planning and decisions regarding grain handling and transportation — they have unique economic interests and want a seat at the table.

Producers who attended the forum are now keenly aware of what is at stake under the Canadian Transportation Act review, which is scheduled to be completed this fall. Producers will be uniquely impacted if the system does not plan for increased handling and transportation capacity, improved service levels, and appropriate regulation of rail rates.
Oscar
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Re: KILLING THE CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD: Harper

Postby Oscar » Thu Feb 18, 2016 5:26 pm

Parliamentary Dance

[ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/2016/02/4427/ ]

February 18, 2016

On Tuesday, we were treated to the usual Parliamentary Question Period dance. Unlike those classic dance scenes in costume drama movies like Pride and Prejudice where the whole community works in synchronization, Question Period is more like crazed zombies interrupting a square dance while the Speaker of the House tries to keep order.

It was like that when the Leader of the NDP rose to ask the Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay when he would re-establish the Canadian Wheat Board.

Mr. Mulcair was doing his job by raising a very serious issue for western grain farmers. The evidence is now in that the private grain companies have taken $6.5 billion from grain farmers in the last two years. As usual in Question Period the Conservatives were heckling. It was not much of a surprise to see the former Harper Ag Minister sneering via Twitter about the effrontery of western grain farmers wanting natural justice to be done by restoring what was seized from them without due compensation or the vote he promised.

It would not have been unreasonable to expect Minister MacAulay, whose Prime Minister is already noted for un-muzzling scientists and promising evidence based policies, to respond positively to making it so farmers get back the roughly 60% of their grain cheque now being taken by the private oligarchs.

One sure sign the grown-ups are back in power is the ease with which the Agriculture Minister confounded the questioners on both sides of the issue. Yes, he said, the Wheat Board had been sold – apparently reminding the Conservatives that for this Minister a contract is a contract and he would not be seizing assets, no matter how they were disposed of, from G3 which is the combo of Saudi Arabia and Bunge one of the world’s giant private grain companies. But that is really all he said.

In the past, when confronted with the same economic structure as we see today both the Liberals and the Conservatives tried every conceivable combination of regulations and reforms to make the defective international grain market work without bankrupting western farmers. After many things were tried and failed the single desk was the only thing that remained viable. The Wheat Board’s marketing responsibility was renewed every five years by Parliament. Finally in 1967 all parties unanimously endorsed and supported a permanent single-desk, orderly marketing organization known as the Canadian Wheat Board. It was the only way for farmers to have a level playing field in the international market.

Since then nothing has changed and the evidence is the same today as back then. The only question is how long will it take for Minister MacAulay and the Liberals to look at the evidence? How many farmers must get hurt? How many domestic processors will be driven out of business by subsidized off-shore production and how long will Canadians tolerate eating bread and pasta from grain grown in parts of the world that are amongst the most heavily polluted on earth?

If we are talking about evidence based policy, a new single-desk marketing agency can be created. We can name it whatever we want. What we care about is that it gets premium prices for Canadian grain and supports local food.
Oscar
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Re: KILLING THE CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD: Harper

Postby Oscar » Sat Apr 16, 2016 8:49 am

CWBA releases new research paper

[ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/2016/04/cwba-re ... rch-paper/ ]

April 13, 2016

The Canadian Wheat Board Alliance released a research paper written by a PhD candidate from the University of Saskatchewan.

The paper is titled: “An evaluation of the present situation for Western Canadian grain farmers within a historical context”

The paper provides a convenient outline of times a single-desk wheat marketing agency has been created in Canada to mitigate the effects of a non-competitive global grain oligarchy and the results when those marketing agencies have been discontinued.

Using recent audited data the paper compares the excess transportation costs downloaded onto producers of non-board grains over the past decade to the transportation costs for grains under the single-desk Canadian Wheat Board.

The paper puts these excess costs into a historical perspective by reviewing the functions the single-desk Wheat Board performed and the effects of ending those services to prairie farmers.

REPORT: [ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/cwba-research-paper-april-2016/ ]


Canadian Wheat Board Alliance
Box 125 Hussar, AB T0J 1S0
http://www.cwbafacts.ca/

- - -

Here is some coverage of the research paper –

CWBA says single desk removal has cost farmers billions - April 12, 2016
[ http://www.thestarphoenix.com/business/ ... story.html ]

Post-CWB review flags grain trade ‘inefficiency’ - April 13, 2016
[ http://www.manitobacooperator.ca/daily/ ... efficiency ]

Farmers receiving less since loss of Canadian Wheat Board - April 14, 2016
[ http://discoverhumboldt.com/com-commedi ... heat-board ]
Oscar
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Posts: 9079
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm

Re: KILLING THE CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD: Harper

Postby Oscar » Tue Jul 26, 2016 5:48 pm

Port of Churchill layoffs a preventable tragedy

CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD ALLIANCE
P.O. Box 125, Hussar, Alberta, T0J 1S0
http://www.cwba.ca

NEWS RELEASE July 26, 2016

(Pelly, Sask., July 26, 2016) “The layoff notices to grain workers and others at the port of Churchill, Manitoba are a tragedy for both the workers and farmers in western Canada,” said Kyle Korneychuk spokesperson for the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance (CWBA), an independent prairie-wide farm group. “What is worse is they were entirely preventable.”

Korneychuk went on to say: “Harper Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz understood this very well and provided a subsidy to create the illusion Churchill would remain a viable port after he killed the farmer-controlled Wheat Board. Now that the subsidy is at an end, it is no surprise the layoff notices are coming.”

“The port of Churchill provided a significant freight advantage to eastern Saskatchewan and western Manitoba farmers. Because the single-desk Canadian Wheat Board could service premium customers they fully utilized the port’s facilities and preserved its rail link using a winter rail program to fill the terminal over winter. By coupling this program with on-farm storage premiums, the single desk brought more money to the farm community and kept this strategically vital asset economically viable” observed Korneychuk who served on the CWB’s elected Board of Directors and earlier on the Board of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.

“Our organization frequently warned in submissions to the Harper Government and in advertising during Federal elections that the giant private grain handling companies who control the majority of the world’s grain trade have no interest in using Churchill. For them it is a smaller volume facility which they do not own.” Korneychuk observed.

“On the other hand, farmers represented by the single-desk CWB, which owned no port facilities, had no conflict of interest in using whatever port would return the greatest value to producers and Churchill was one of those ports” he said.

“We recognized that shareholders and owners of the multinational grain companies and the two foreign owned railways have different priorities, and these do not include returning the maximum value of prairie grain to producers or maintaining shipments through facilities they do not own.”

Korneychuk concluded by offering his sympathy to the many workers and their families who loaded prairie grain into ships to help prairie farmers feed the world. - 30 –

For further information call: Kyle Korneychuk at (306) 537-0950

- - - - -

Who We Are: The Alliance is a politically non-partisan organization focused specifically on the Canadian Wheat Board. Members of the Alliance recognize the advantages the Board brought to producers through the single desk and price pooling, quality control through the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC), as well as the important role the CWB played as an advocate for farmers in transportation, producer cars, and on the world stage in trade disputes and negotiations. The Alliance draws memberships throughout the west.
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