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MYK - Supports Arizona to democtratically pass laws for the state of Arizona
Rudy was the only hope in 08
2011 Election: Cons 40% - Nanos 38% Ekos 34%
Legislation to end the Canadian Wheat Board’s 76-year-old marketing monopoly will be passed by the end of the year, federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said Monday
With a majority government, the Conservatives have vowed to remove the single-desk that requires prairie farmers to sell their wheat and barley to the board.
The wheat board argues that farmers should be consulted about any changes — Ritz says they gave their opinion when they elected the government — and points to a mail-in vote where 62 per cent of wheat farmers and 51 per cent of barley farmers wanted to keep the single-desk.
Ritz said in his announcement that western farmers will have choice in how their grain is marketed, who they sell it to, when they sell it and the price, as well as using either a voluntary wheat board or the private sector.
He wants the changes in place for the August 2012 crop year.
I remember there was a debate about this on CP but I couldn't find the thread.
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I wish I knew more about this. Ultimately I believe this will help drive grain prices higher by eliminating that middle man (wheat board), but I know that's a far too simplistic way of thinking. I don't know enough about it.
Support for the Wheat Board is very regional. Manitoba still has strong support for the board.
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I wish I knew more about this. Ultimately I believe this will help drive grain prices higher by eliminating that middle man (wheat board), but I know that's a far too simplistic way of thinking. I don't know enough about it.
Will be interesting though, that's for sure.
Basically you're allowing the farmers to choose their middle-man (although a corporate middle-man who's probably going to be more profit-oriented but also more efficient). The obvious thing here is that farmers in eastern Canada have always had that choice; it's only on the prairies that there's been this monopoly. It was extremely important for prairie farmers in the middle of the last century. Now, probably time to move on.
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None of this matters, It's just a matter of time before Monsanto owns all the farms globally anyway.
No kidding.
Anyways, funny how the CWB is saying the government should pay the shutdown costs, but they generated $5.2b in revenue last year.
I say end it. The private sector can do a much better job.
The fact that Monsanto, Cargill and others are so powerful has to do with being able to patent the seed, or whatever the hell the Supreme Court allowed them to do. It has nothing to do with selling the wheat.
I wonder if the deregulation will open up things to speculation? In the US speculative investment in food futures have caused all sorts of world wide food price problems.
The fact that Monsanto, Cargill and others are so powerful has to do with being able to patent the seed, or whatever the hell the Supreme Court allowed them to do. It has nothing to do with selling the wheat.
Why Shouldn't they be able to patent protect that seed? Cargill/Viterra/Monsanto/Bayer/Dow put millions and millions and millions into researching and developing that seed.
If it wasn't patent protected, anyone and everyone would sell that seed and it would sewer the price. These companies would never get back the money they invested into developing this seed, and so they simply would not invest any money or time into it at all.
It's because of these companies and their patent protected seed that farmers are able to buy high yielding, high protein, disease resistant seed.
Why Shouldn't they be able to patent protect that seed? Cargill/Viterra/Monsanto/Bayer/Dow put millions and millions and millions into researching and developing that seed.
If it wasn't patent protected, anyone and everyone would sell that seed and it would sewer the price. These companies would never get back the money they invested into developing this seed, and so they simply would not invest any money or time into it at all.
It's because of these companies and their patent protected seed that farmers are able to buy high yielding, high protein, disease resistant seed.
Patenting seed isn't a problem, but the problem has to do with indiscriminate patent enforcement. Example is one farmer bought Monsanto seed and the farmer next to him didn't. Because of things like cross pollination, Monsanto patented gene seed characteristics spread to the farmer who does not purchase Monsanto seed. Monsanto now goes after the the second farmer as a non-paying customer and sues to force either removal of their product or forces the second farmer to become a paying customer.
Another thing is we still don't know the long term effects of many GM crops.
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Originally Posted by JFK
I'm not sure if you're serious here.
Monsanto has a virtual monopoly on GM seeds sales. If they continue on suing like they currently are, it may only be a matter of time before they corner the entire market.
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Why Shouldn't they be able to patent protect that seed? Cargill/Viterra/Monsanto/Bayer/Dow put millions and millions and millions into researching and developing that seed.
If it wasn't patent protected, anyone and everyone would sell that seed and it would sewer the price. These companies would never get back the money they invested into developing this seed, and so they simply would not invest any money or time into it at all.
It's because of these companies and their patent protected seed that farmers are able to buy high yielding, high protein, disease resistant seed.
Exactly - look at the price drop in glyphosate the last two years. The amount of chemical companies now selling the slightly different varities is staggering.
The new Canadian Wheat Board won’t have farmers elected to manage it as it works on a transition plan to privatize and function as a voluntary marketer.
Legislation tabled in the House of Commons Tuesday will let farmers start selling their own wheat, durum and barley in 2012, but not until the bill has worked its way through the House, Senate and their committees.
The proposed law would eliminate 10 elected positions from the board of directors, leaving government appointees. Those five appointees will be in charge of producing a business plan to privatize the board by 2016, with the minister of agriculture to decide whether it’s viable.
If the agriculture minister decides the plan isn’t viable, the government can permanently shut down the Wheat Board.
Not sure what I think about this since I don't know a lot about farming. I guess freedom of choice is a good thing, but there is always a downside.
As an aside, one of the things I hate living in Ontario is that all the papers and the media just hate the Harper governement. Looking at the comments sections always seem to bring out that he can't do anything right and we're all doomed. Kind of hard to keep a level head here. A quick look at the commentary suggests that the Conservatives are selling out to large US corporatations and the farmers will be squeezed out by these large corporations.
This is what the farmer's have always wanted - freedom of choice. I don't know, I just get a gut feeling, that you should be careful what you wish for. I can't speak much to the CWB, as I only ranch, so my only commodities are hay and cattle, but there is a huge part of me that wishes the hay industry was more regulated and that we had someone willing to export our commodity to the world.
Not sure what I think about this since I don't know a lot about farming. I guess freedom of choice is a good thing, but there is always a downside.
As an aside, one of the things I hate living in Ontario is that all the papers and the media just hate the Harper governement. Looking at the comments sections always seem to bring out that he can't do anything right and we're all doomed. Kind of hard to keep a level head here. A quick look at the commentary suggests that the Conservatives are selling out to large US corporatations and the farmers will be squeezed out by these large corporations.
I hate the hypocrisy of the media over there, Ontario farmers have had the right to sell outside the wheat board for ages. Why shouldn't the rest of the country?
Mind you, they do have a point of being concerned with the US corporations. Look what happened in the financial sector since deregulations happened. Increased individual corporate profits and large public expense, speculation caused food pricing bubbles, etc.
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I hate the hypocrisy of the media over there, Ontario farmers have had the right to sell outside the wheat board for ages. Why shouldn't the rest of the country?
Mind you, they do have a point of being concerned with the US corporations. Look what happened in the financial sector since deregulations happened. Increased individual corporate profits and large public expense, speculation caused food pricing bubbles, etc.
I think you have a point when it comes to deregulation and the financial sector, but the US Department of Agriculture and their policies are just as much at fault for food pricing bubbles as deregulation is.
Like the push by the government and big food to use corn in every single food product sold in the supermarket.
The Wheat Board Aristocracy
