The Rural Voice, 1981-08, Page 17Meeting on the pros and cons of
SUPPLY MANAGEMENT
by Bev Brown
The pork producers who came to the Brucefield school July 13
with strong "pro" or "con" feelings about supply management
probably went home with a less polarized opinion as a result of
the discussions which took place.
The meeting was called by the Huron County Pork Producers
Association at the request of the Committee for the
Advancement of Supply Management (CASM),
The meeting was chaired by Joe Miller, Chairman of the
Huron County Pork Producers. Adrian Vos spoke on behalf of
the Ontario Pork Producers Marketing Board (OPPMB); Rod
McDowell. from Peterborough County represented CASM; and
Jim Boynton, a member of the federal Farm Products Marketing
Council, represented the government.
The first speaker was Adrian Vos who declared he is not an
opponent of supply management, "I simply do not think that
supply management will work satisfactorily for the hog
industry," Vos said. "Supply management works well for milk
and eggs as there is no real competition for these products. But
there is lots of competition for pork, such as beef, lamb and
chicken."
Vos went on to describe the difficulties of estimating the size
of the pork market one -and -a -half to two years in advance.
Consumption of pork is price related, he claimed, and can be
greatly influenced by the price of other meats. "If we put our
prices up above the American market, based on the cost of
production," he explained, "Japan would simply stop buying
pork from Canda and would fill their needs in the U.S. And the
Americans would demand access to our higher priced market.
But we would have already closed the border against American
imports." In Vos' opinion this would eventually lead to either
tariff or non -tariff barriers if ever we wanted to move our excess
pork into the United States.
One farmer wanted to know if it would be possible to have
quotas only on pork used for domestic consumption. If a farmer
wanted to produce in excess of his quota, he could sell this pork
overseas at world prices and the risk would be assumed by the
individual. Jim Boynton quickly pointed out that if you had
supply management in Canada, then this would be considered as
dumping and would not be allowed.
Vos' presentation brought forward many of the complicated
factors which can affect a marketing system for pork and he
made it clear that all of the facts are not yet available. He told
producers that the OPPMB has commissioned a special
fact-finding committee to study all aspects of a marketing system
for pork. Its preliminary report, without recommendations, will
be available in October, with a final report before March, 1982.
Rod McDowell, spokesman for CASM, said: "Our Committee
feels that when it comes to a vote on supply management, the
OPPMB board members vote by personal preference, which
does not necessarily represent the feelings of the pork producers
in their areas." He went on to say that meetings about supply
management were being held all over Ontario and in counties
where a vote was taken in answer to the question, "Are you in
favour of the principle of supply management?" more than
seventy per cent of the county directors (and in two counties
over seventy per cent of the producers) had voted "yes".
McDowell told the audience: "It makes more sense to receive
payment for our product at the farmgate. Everyone else in the
food chain receives payment for their production costs plus
something for profit. Why shouldn't the hog farmers be able to
do this?"
Boynton said he had attended many meetings around the
province to explain the mechanics of setting up a supply
management system. He encouraged everyone to keep an open
mind about different types of marketing systems. "Times are
changing." he said. "There are not as many packer/buyers as
there used to be and this has lessened competition."
He went on to explain there is legislative authority available to
farmers to operate a marketing agency at the national level. But
the first step would be to get this power at the provincial level.
To do this, an application would have to go to the provincial
agricultural minister indicating strong support from hog
producers plus support from the OPPMB. "If a group of
producers approached the provincial government as a splinter
group, without the backing of the OPPMB, 1 doubt if the
government would agree to call for a referendum," Boynton
explained. A provincial referendum would need a majority vote
of at least 66% per cent of the qualifying pork producers in each
province. After that, the provinces who are in favour of supply
management would get together and draft a proposal to be
presented to the federal Farm Products Marketing Council. The
Council would then call for public hearings to determine how
many producer organizations support the plan. The Council
would also try to decide if the plan was workable. "For
instance," Boynton said, "the Council did not recommend a
supply management agency for potatoes because we could not
find enough support among the potato producers."
If a county can demonstrate that it has its production of a
particular farm product under control, then it can apply to the
GATT people (General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs) to
restrict imports of that product. These restrictions must be
negotiated with other countries by the federal government and
not by the supply management agency.
Boynton went on to explain that any pricing formula for nork
would have to be developed by an independent agency and not
by pork producers. This costs quite a bit of money as the
independent agency must go right across Canada gathering
figures on production costs. But this is the only way to obtain
objective data which would be acceptable to the Farm Products
Marketing Council.
"This whole process can take several years," Boynton
cautioned the group. In response to a question about the
definition of a pork producer, he said it would be difficult to
determine. He gave the example of the Egg Marketing Board
which sets an arbitrary limit of five hundred birds to determine
who would come under the Board's jurisdiction and who would
not.
A question from the audience about what effect the Combines
Act would have on marketing boards brought a word of warning
from Boynton. "At the present time," he. said, "farmer co-ops
and farm organizations are exampted from the Combines Act.
This Act is presently up for review and farmers would be wise to
study the suggested changes to the Act to make sure that this
exemption for farmers remains in place."
When asked how a quota system would affect pork exports.
Boynton replied that they would not necessarily be wiped out
entirely. "Right now Canada exports about twenty per cent of its
Please turn to page 39
THE RURAL VOICE/AUGUST 1981 PG. 15