The Rural Voice, 1980-05, Page 11Ano.her drawback is that the chemical
weed control program used for the corn
doesn'. agree with the beans.
In adt';tion to supplying beans for their
own population, Yugoslavia is also tied into
trade agreements with a number of other
Eastern Bloc countries, which means the
country has to meet these obligations.
A USEFUL EXERCISE
Althougl. the visit to Yugoslavia didn't
result in substantial sales, Mr. Hill
believes the trade mission was a useful
exercise - "it's easier to deal with people if
they know you and you know them." He
said the trip to the tw' Communist
countries provided the board and dealers
with a better understanding of what the
buyers want the beans for, and what their
market requires.
When the mission went to Yugoslavia,
they learned buyers there might be
interested in purchasing some Ontario
seed beans. One of the main purposes of
their trip was to visit a large "kombinat"
or communal farm and try to sell them on
the idea of growing white pea beans.
The kombinat controlled 800,000 acres of
land, much of it reclaimed and drained
from a swamp following World War II.
Gordon Hill said two-thirds of the land is
owned by people in the kombinat, but the
rest still seems to be farmed by peasant
farmers. The farm is a far more complex
operation than even our corporate farms in
Canada. The visitors learned crops are not
only grown and harvested on the kombinat,
but also processed in freezing plants and
canning factories, etc. The kombinat also
contains its own delivery trucks, stores and
restaurants and is now adding hotels to
encourage tourists to visit the farm.
While the trade mission hoped to market
seed beans, they found the Yugoslavian
bean is much larger than the pea bean, and
so the Ontario dealers didn't have much
'uck selling their products. Gordon Hill
said in Yugoslavia. the country governed
by Marshall Tito for many years, the
people in a business run their business,
unlike the system practised in other
Communist countries where the state
makes all the decisions.
Individual companies can import and
export products without permission of the
central government. For example. a
company might export products like plum
brandy and wine anduse the foreign
exchange to buy needed commodities like
beans, etc.
Two days after the Ontario trade mission
lei the country, one of these trading
coml tnies tendered for a large block of
beans. While Canadian dealers bid on the
contraLtheir bid wasn't accepted. Instead
the corn any purchased Great Northern
beans, a bigger bean than grown here,
which is more like their native crop.
BULGARIA - A SHOWPLACE
From Yugoslavia. the trade mission went
on to Bulgaria, which Gordon Hill said is
somewhat of a showplace among Com-
munist countries. The streets in the capital
were wide, with large, central squares and
the buildings were cleaner and more
modern than those in Yugoslavia.
The trade mission met with only one
trading company here - a company that
bought Ontario beans last year.
On their return to Canada members of
the trade mission spent a week in England,
talking to brokers and canners in the
country that still buys the largest share of
Ontario's white beans.
Gordon Hill said the major problem
facing British canners, such as Heinz and
,r Gley, is the country's steel strike,
whiLk. has resulted in a shortage of cans.
This i. -ins beans, a popular food in
Britain, at , right off the shelves in many of
the stores. iordon Hill said canning
companies arL losing business, which in
turn may mean 'ntarto bean growers will
lose sales.
The board's chairman +id although the
strike has now gone into binding
arbitration, it will be at 'east a month after
the strike is settled before Fans will be
available. Then many of the lat ger canning
companies will be into the fresh vegetable
season, not canning beans. Also, since
they haven't been able to build up bean
stocks, "we could definitely lose sales."
Gordon Hill warns "we may have to fight
to get future markets back" in Britain.
One of the main competitors in the
British market is Michigan bean growers,
although their situtation in the marketplace
is almost the reverse of the one facing
Ontario growers. Michigan growers, who
sell directly to dealers, market almost 75
per cent of their beans in the United States.
FRIENDLY COMPETITORS
Although the Ontario and Michigan
growers are "friendly" competitors,
Michigan beans do have one advantage in
the marketplace - the fact each bag of
beans contains an identification number.
This means if the buyers find a problem
with the beans, the dealer t.zn identify
when the bag arrived in the country, from
where, etc. Gordon Hill said this
information simplifies insurance claims
and companies will settle on American
beans a matte. -f course.
Although the Ontario Bean Producers
Marketing Board _s the matter under
discussion with the Board of Grain
Commissioners, the regulatory body who
would have to institute the change, Gordon
Hill sail he expects "they will be
reluu; n' to force something on the
dealers they don't want to accept."
At present, the beans are either
marketed with a certificate from the grain
board attesting to their grade or else
dealers submit samples of each lot of beans
and the board determines the grade from
the sample.
Mr. Hill said "trading on this basis
requires a good deal of faith and trust (on
the buyers' part)" and puts the Ontario
growers "at a competitive disadvantage
due to better grading and identification" of
the Michigan beans.
While the Bean Producers' Marketing
Board and dealers are' continuing their
search for overseas markets, they're also
trying for a larger share of the Canadian
market. About a year ago, the board
launched a program aimed at persuading
restaurants and institutions to add more
beans to their menus. The promotional
campaign has been aimed directly at chefs
and food service managers, and includes
advertisements in food business magazines
and recipe books distributed to the food
industry.
Gordon Hill also believes as economic
pressures tighten up, "beans will be one of
the best food buys" both for markets here
and overseas.
When asked about the trend for many
growers to switch some of their white bean
acreage to soybeans, Mr. Hill said the 1980
harvest should indicate whether this will be
a longterm trend. The chairman said the
two main reasons for the switch in crops
includes the development of a soybean
variety that would produce well in more
northernly areas like Huron County and the
fact soybeans can be harvested standing so
they aren't damaged as badly by wet
weather. Wet harvests proved disastrous
for many white bean growers in Huron and
Perth counties in both 1977 and 1978.
Although soybeans are gaining popular-
ity, Gordon Hill doesn't believe they'll ever
be more than a specialty crop for, he says
with a twinkle in his eye, "the health food
freaks."
But while the switch to soybeans may
slightly reduce the number of white beans
in the marketplace, there's another factor
coming into play. Some Michigan dealers
have already made agreements to supply
Mexican buyers with coloured beans.
Gordon Hill said the bean board has
learned Mexican dealers will be requiring
about ten times the normal production of
these beans and the acreage has to come
out of some other crop. The board
chairman said, "our board believes a
certain amount will come out of white
beans," a fact they hope will take some
pressure off the market. Some growers in
Ontario have also already contracted to
grow the coloured beans.
But the members of the bean board still
have to keep in mind that "there's a
decided limit to the amount of beans which
can be sold at attractive prices" according
to Mr. Hill. So while sending a trade
mission to sell beans to Yugoslavia might
seem like trying to sell tea to China, the
bean board and the dealers are going to
keep exploring any potential markets that
exist for their crop.
THE RURAL VOICE/MAY 1980 PG 9