HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1986-10-29, Page 16OMMB candidates have
few answers
on quota costs
Little hope was held out for an
easing of the problems of young
farmers getting into the dairy
industry when candidates for the
Region II position on the Ontario
Milk Marketing Board spoke to
area dairy producers at the Brus
sels, Morris and Grey Community
Centre Thursday night.
It was the fourth of a series of
“meet the candidates night” held
across the region and the only one
held in Huron county. Voting for
theposition, made vacant when
Ken McKinnon O.M.M.B. chair
man who had represented the
region since the inception of the
board in 1965 took a position with
the Canadian Dairy Commission,
took place on Tuesday of this week.
Jim Hunter of RR 1, Belgrave
was one of the three candidates
along with Stuart Steckle of RR 2,
Zurich and Bruce Saunders of RR
1, Holland Centre.
In answer to a question from one
of the three dozen farmers present
on alternatives for young farmers
getting into the business Mr.
Hunter said if he had that answer
he’dbesuretobe elected (and, one
of the other candidates suggested,
would be elevated immediately to
chairman). “I don’t think there is
any magic way of getting young
farmers into the business,” he
said. His own son, is gradually
working his way into the business
by buying a few cows and enough
Market Sharing Quota to keep their
production covered, he said. Per
haps, he said, they should compare
getting into dairy farming with
getting into medicine where well-
off parents are important to help
pay the high cost of education and
setting up a practice.
Mr. Steckle said young farmers
have always had to depend on a
fathertoget into the business. One
solution he has seen is for a son to
buy the cattle from the farmer and
borrow the use of the milk quota.
Mr. Saunders said that in
Quebec a certain amount of free
quota is given to young farmers for
free use for 10 years but to make a
living from the business the farmer
would still have to buy more quota,
he said, and with the cost of land,
cows and equipment, would still
have a hard time making it. The
only way to make the system work
would be to loan the young farmer a
lot more MSQ, he said, and he
didn’t think current producers
would stand for that. “I don’t see
(the price of) quota coming down in
the next 10 years,” he said. “I
think we’re going to see a
generation of young people who
aren’t going to be able to go into
dairy farming.”
Another farmer complained a-
boutthe levy on milk to help export
surplus milk powder, created from
milk left from cream used for
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domestic butter production, and
wondered when the charge could
be abolished. Mr. Steckle suggest
ed the first way to get rid of it was to
get the United States on a quota
system. Currently the U.S. and the
European Economic Community
are in a subsidy battle to get rid of
huge surpluses of milk. That battle
has seen the price of skim milk
powder plummet from $1200 a
tonne in the early 1970’s to $600
today, he said.
Mr. Saunders said that else
where people are searching for
alternate uses for the powder. In
Quebec they are making milk
bread, in the U.S. they’re explor
ing using milk to help make
insulation and glue, he said.
Asked about the possibility of
giving free milk out in Canadian
schools rather than virtually giving
away milk powder on the interna
tional market, Mr. Saunders said
generally the experience in such
things is that it doesn’t work. The
free milk helps cut down the
market as parents don’t buy as
much milk for their children at
home.
Other concerns of questioners
included unnecessary extra travel
by long-haul milk transports, use
oftoo-fancy trucks by local milk
haulers, and worries over corpor
ate concentration among milk
processors.
Help for farm
families
planned
Continued from page 1
meeting at the Christian Reformed
Church in Clinton on Monday
night, bringing together leaders
from a number of local churches,
farm groups and concerned indivi
duals to investigate the most
effective methods of providing
help for the county’s most vulner
able citizens.
Clergy and layment from Catho
lic, Anglican, United, Mennonite
and Christian Reformed churches,
in Blyth, Brussels, Clinton, Bay-
field and Seaforth, as well as
representatives from the Huron
Federation of Agriculture, the
Christian Farmers’ Federation and
the Clinton OMAF office will
continue to meet throughout the
coming months to contact and
bring together those who can help,
and those who need help, under the
general format of Project Hope, an
organization set up two years ago
to provide help for farm families.
The aim of the committee will be
to bring together individuals on an
informal basis to talk over pro
blems, to provide a compassionate
ear and moral and practical
support for farm families in crisis.
STANDARD
TRUST
138 The Square. Goderich, Ont.
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1986. PAGE 17
Candidates for the vacant position on the Ontario Milk Marketing Board spoke in Brussels Thursday
night, leading up to the election Tuesday. Candidates included [left to right] Bruce Saunders, Holland
Centre; Stuart Steckle, Zurich and Jim Hunter, Belgrave.
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