Anti-Canadian Wheat Board Rhetoric
Waldeck - Monday, January 13, 2003 - by:Joyce Neufeld
few farmers want to get rid of CWB	Even though the Canadian Wheat Board elections are over, the anti-CWB rhetoric just keeps flowing. One recent letter claimed that the thirteen farmers who spent (a very short) time in jail in Lethbridge 'didn't time it'. Well, it seems to me that the media hoopla in the very midst of CWB elections was not merely a fluke. The writer claims that, "very few farmers want to get rid of the CWB." (This I agree with - just look at the recent CWB elections - only 17% of eligible voters voted for the openmarketers),
	"they just want the chance to sell their own grain to whomever they please (including the CWB). This does not necessarily mean they want to sell to the US either".
oats	First off the CWB does not buy farmers grain. It simply markets it with all profits going back to the producer. A prime example of the open market was the removal of oats from the CWB. In 1988-89 oats was bringing in $3.29 per bushel. Within three weeks of it's removal from the Board, it was down to $2.15 per bushel. In Jan. 93 Charlie Mayer announced that farmers could lock in oats at a whopping $1.70 or $1.80 for September delivery. Now, that's open market performance!!
one seller	The CWB sold more than 20 million tonnes of grain to over 70 countries AROUND THE WORLD in the past year. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you have one seller, and 70 purchasers the seller will come out ahead, but if you have 85,000 sellers (farmers) , and 70 purchasers guess who will come out the looser?
70 buyers	Major customers in the 2001-02 year and volumes purchased are as follows:(shown in tonnes)
	Wheat (excluding Durum)   Durum   Feed Barley   Designated Barley Canada 2,340,000   Algeria 839,000   Japan 26.000   Canada 975,000 Japan 1,190,000 U.S. 575,000 UAE 10.000 U.S. 540,000 U.S. 1,034,000 Morocco 479,000 U.S. 2.000 China 400,000 Mexico 891,000 Tunisia 370,000     South Africa 72,000 Iran 813,000 Canada 290,000     Columbia 52,000
	Now, I can just hear the anti-CWBoarder's conversation with a purchaser in Algeria, South Africa, Columbia, Iran, China, or Japan.
	"I have two or maybe three B-trains of No. 1 hard spring wheat. How much do you need, and what will you pay me for it. Well, yes, of course it's No 1, Trust me! What's that, you want it delivered to your port? Come now, how do you expect me to drive a B-train across the ocean?"
	Click - end of conversation.
	Joyce Neufeld
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