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The Rural Voice, 1986-10, Page 12&tide adteii MACHINE a REPAIR • Precision Machining & Milling • Custom Built Truck & Trailer Boxes • Combine & Tractor Overhauls • Machinery Replacement Parts — Custom Made Kippen 519-262-3020 PIZ roup Fieez 1 YES, IT IS THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN! • Fall Apples Pick your own or Apples y picked — bring your own containers. Assorted Jams, Jellies and Juices Fresh Cider (made from our own apples, Honey Pine River Cheese LASSALINE FARM MARKET ORCH ARD 5 BAYFIELD LASSALINE FARM MARKET and ORCHARDS 519-524-7772 South of Goderich 21/2 miles from Hwy 8 on the Drive -In Theatre Road 10 THE RURAL VOICE SMALL FARMER AT DISADVANTAGE Marketing boards have been organized by the mass of small family farmers. Usually farmers felt a lack of clout when dealing with buyers and chose to institute a marketing board to act on their behalf. Being a member of an organization with a board that they could elect themselves gave them the power to direct their af- fairs through people they trusted. It meant that, if they wished, they could pool their prices so the small producer would get the same return per unit as the big one. This promise of a vote for each producer and an equal price for each unit sold has been kept until recently. Pork producers receive exactly the same price for the same volume of quality product whether they sell one hog or 10,000 hogs. Turkey and chicken producers all get the same price, regardless of the size of their operations. And all of these producers have one vote whatever the amount of their production. The exception to this fair rule is the Ontario Egg Producers Marketing Board. This board, ruled by less than a thousand smug and secure producers, has decided in its collective wisdom to deny a vote to anyone who pro- duces eggs from less than 500 hens. It does this by in effect granting the right to produce without a formal quota. "No quota" means "no vote." This is only part of the small farmer's disadvantage. The same board pays this regulated pro- ducer "without vote" less per dozen of eggs than the big pro- ducer "with vote," while charg- ing the same levy for marketing a dozen eggs. The little guy doesn't receive the mail -outs from the board either. Cozy, isn't it? Oh yes, it is all rationalized, of course. It costs more to market small lots. But weren't the marketing boards established (when the big ones of today were still the small ones of yesterday) to give the little guy equality? The cost of marketing one hog is much higher than the cost of marketing a thousand, but the lit- tle guy doesn't get any less or isn't charged any more than the big guy. And that is as it should be. Not all of these small egg pro- ducers are hobbyists. Many of them run mixed farms for which a profit of $3,000 plus is a very real part of the business. Too many poultry farmers have become "poultry manufacturers" — with 36,000 -hen quota barns on five acres of land and a regular job off the land. They are unable or unwilling to understand the injustice of denying a vote while charging a levy and laying down compulsory regulations. Given all the criticism of supply -managed marketing boards, it is incredible that seem- ingly rational people can disregard fairness to an extent few outside the industry can understand. Is it a death wish? Another problem is the meekness with which this decree has been accepted by those af- fected. Is it because they sell a large percentage of their produc- tion directly to consumers anyway and pay no levy on these eggs at all? Or is it because they don't have the political savvy of their big colleagues? I believe that this last question is more to the point. In sharp contrast is the move by the broiler chicken producers, who are offering quota to farmers outside the present circle. It appears that the chicken board directors recognize that their competitiveness in the marketplace has taken away some of the market once enjoyed by red -meat producers. The chicken board directors should be com- mended. ❑ Adrian Vos, from Huron County, has contributed to the magazine since its inception in 1975.