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The Rural Voice, 1980-03, Page 12'What am / bid?' Milk board adopts new exchange plan BY ADRIAN VO S Ontario Milk Marketing Board (OMMB) officials are doing the rounds of Ontario's counties, explaining the new quota ex- change policies adopted by the board. Professor Stu Lane and Dr. M.A. McGregor, of the University of Guelph, studied quota transfer policies on behalf of several marketing boards last year. Since the release of this study, the milk board has been studying methods of improving transferring policies, according to Ken McKinnon, the chairman of the board. OMMB plans to implement the new system in March, and all milk producers will receive a brochure outlining the procedure through the mail. Other research projects considered by the milk board were studies done in B.C., and by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. All studies upheld the longtime view of the board that both the industry as a whole, and the producers as individuals benefitted most by a free quota price. Mr. McKinnon outlined for an audience of dairymen the objectives of the board in the quota transfer system as: 1. to gain the confidence of both the producers and the industry in general; 2. to provide an opportunity to all eligible producers wanting to trade quota; 3. to reflect the value at all times. The procedure of selling or buying quota is as follows: A producer calculates how much quota he needs, and the maximum amount he is willing to pay for it. He sends this information by nightletter to the computer exchange at the board office, where it is fed into the computer. The machine will match it with an offer to sell. The offer to sell comes from a producer with a surplus of quota. His nightletter must contain the same information as in the buying offer, with the minimum price the seller will accept. The computer will do all the work, eliminating any human interference. The matching of offers will be done once a month. The milk board warns that not every bid may be accepted. If bidding is lower than offering, no matching will take place. This will result in a raising of the bidding in the next month and a lowering of the asking price. This way a true market value will be reached. Group I, used MSQ, and unused MSQ all will have their own exchange and private sales outside the system will no longer be possible. The 15 per cent transfer to the board will remain in force. The administration cost will be no higher than a $ 3.00 service charge to the board and $ 3.45 for the nightletter. The board has recognized that the computer will not always be necessary. The exceptions are a transfer within the family, or in ongoing operations. These transfers will be subject to some rules. Provision is made for new producers to enter the business. All they have to do is to show a certificate of serious intent, signed by a responsible person, such as an OMAF field representative. The existing rule, that no shipper can hold more than 75 per cent of group I quota, will remain in force. The computer is programmed to reject any bids wanting more. To think that the milk industry will henceforth be ruled by a machine in erroneous. A producer wanting more than 1,500 litres extra quota a day will be screened, and the board will then decide if it is in the best interest of the industry to allow the sale. Any producer wanting an increase of 3,000 litres a day will not even be fed into the computer. He must fill out a special application to the board before his bid is put on the exchange. If this should happen often, the board is prepared to deal with it by developing a special policy. The milk hoard says it will review the new system every six months and make changes if necessary. 1 Mrs. Fran Breckenridge, Bluevale, operating a band saw to cut out a weathervane. is seen here pattern for a PG. 10 THE RURAL VOICE/MARCH 1980 More wives in winter As you approach the classroom for the night school course in woodworking at F.E. Madill High School in Wingham, the whine of high-powered saws and the sound of sanders greets your ears. Entering the classroom it comes as a slight surprise to find as many women as men busily sawing and sanding, measuring and hammering. Arthur Laidlaw, who has taught the wood- working course for the past 9 or 10 winters, says he has always had women taking the course. "Some come back for several years," he said, "progressing on to even more difficult projects." He says there have been no accidents in all the years he has been the instructor.