Dagmar Mehlsen
Fairview, Alberta
I wonder where Mr. Vos has been for the last four years when he was supposed to be working on farmers’ behalf at the CWB board table? Many of the comments he made in his Nov 3, Letter to the Editor in the Fairview Post appear to be swayed by a personal agenda, or are trying to undermine the CWB. It sounds like he doesn’t even know what the CWB actually does for Canadian farmers.
I would say that some machinery companies extract a premium for their products from their customers. Everyone knows some brands are more expensive than others, yet people still buy the expensive ones hand over fist. Why? Because of quality and a relationship developed with company representatives.
The CWB has established a similar, mutually beneficial relationship, over many years, with our grain customers. The CWB has the infrastructure behind it to guarantee quality to its customers. The CWB laboratory and the Canadian Grain Commission ensure the quality of grain shipped to customers is what they ordered. Customers are willing to pay more for that guarantee.
In Canada we have the ability to produce high quality: milling wheat, pasta durum, and malting barley. Why would Mr.Vos want to change our focus to lower qualities?
The CWB is constantly investigating and evaluating new opportunities for farmers in the world market. They are evolving and changing. Don’t discredit the hardworking people at the CWB who are working solely on “our”, the farmer’s, behalf. When we provide them with samples of our grain they market what we have produced.
We can and do produce the best “Cadillacs” in the grain world and we don’t sell them for the price of bicycles. Just remember who has the patent for these bicycles that Mr. Vos says the world wants.
If you want the real low-down on the benefits of the CWB and you have access to the internet just type in “You Tube Canadian Wheat Board” and you will get the real story, all the way from what the CWB does for farmers, to what CWB customers want, like, need, expect and receive from the CWB. There are video clips of some of our foreign buyers.
Yes, perhaps a change is needed but maybe it is a change of the Wheat Board Director in Region One.