The Rural Voice, 2000-01, Page 46quarter after the market collapsed
with last year's economic struggle.
Taiwan, because of disease
problems, has become a major
importer.
China could be a major importer if
a veterinary agreement could ever be
worked out between Canada and
China. Hog production is declining
there because many small farmers are
getting out of the business and the
government is only helping big
producers, Miller said.
Canada could probably export
three or four times as much pork to
the Philippines as it does were it not
for large subsidies for the export of
European pork, he said. "We produce
.the cheapest hogs in the world but
can't compete with their subsidies,"
he said.
Russia shows no sign of economic
recovery so isn't likely to be a
significant market. Poland and
Hungary have been good customers
for Canadian pork but are about to
join the common market which will
end Canadian imports.0
Different paths to
competitiveness
producers say
There are different paths to
competitiveness, three pork
producers speaking to the
Competitiveness conference at
Shakespeare, December 1 said, but
all include goal setting and record
keeping.
Kevin Kimball, an Essex County
hog finisher, gets part of his
competitive edge by belonging to the
S -X Group, 17 pork producers in
that county who have pooled their
resources both to buy supplies
cheaper and market their finished
products.
The S -X Group was born in 1979
after some of the members took part
in a Top Farmer Tour in Indiana and
heard of a similar group in
Minnesota. It costs $1,000 to join the
S -X Group with a $200 a year
membership. They first tendered for
a custom pre -mix but have moved on
to tender for iron, feed additives,
vaccines, heat bulbs, seed, fertilizers
42 THE RURAL VOICE
News
and farm chemicals, fuels, oils and
propane.
The member farms range from
100 sows to over 1,100 sows farrow -
to -finish. Land bases go up to 2,500
acres.
Jim Van Herk, who operates a
125 -sow farrow -to -finish farm near
Rostock in Perth County, said the
key for his family's farm was to write
down its goals. "It helps us -to focus
on the goals. It' helps take out the
emotion — the over optimism or the
pessimism — out of the price cycle. I
can honestly say we meet our goals
sooner by writing it down."
Keep on top of the details of the
operation, big and small, he advised.
He and his wife Fern belong to the
OFMAP program to get the
information to analyse their operation
and compare it to others.
Get involved in the industry and it
will help you keep on top of what's
happening. Keep an open mind to
new ideas, Van Herk said.
To meet the crisis of the past year
the Van Herks had practically no
capital purchases, that's why it's
important to keep equipment up to
date during times of good prices, he
said. He had a good maintenance
program for equipment to reduce the
"disaster" level of machinery
breakdown.
Van Herk still sells his hogs
through Ontario Pork and thinks it's
important to helping maintain
independence. "Cost of production is
still the key as long as producers are
treated equally," he said.
He said he hasn't tried risk
management marketing because he
hasn't been interested but he's
currently taking a marketing course
and that might change.
The independent producer has
probably done the most soul-
searching in the crisis of the past
year, Van Herk said.
However, "We have to base our
plans on facts and figures rather than
the fear that we're going to be left
alone in the dust if we don't grow,"
he said.
John Alderman, a former farrow -
to -finish operator now looks after
hog production units for Cold
Springs Farm Limited in Thamesford
(his wife operates a 1;000 head
finishing barn on contract).
To stay competitive you need to
know what is happening in your own
operation, he said. "What are the key
drivers of your business, how are the
measures calculated and what do you
have to do to improve them?"
Do a Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats
(S.W.O.T.) analysis of your
operation, he suggested. Strengths
and weaknesses are internal forces
while opportunities and threats are
external forces. "Maybe you cannot
be competitive or do not want to do
what it will take to be Competitive."
For the pork industry in Ontario to
be competitive everyone is going to
have to realize that the industry
includes more than the interests of
some producers, he warned. It also
includes suppliers of genetics, feed
and pharmaceuticals, vets, builders,
truckers, corn producers, processors
and others.
Producers are both customers and
suppliers, Alderman pointed out.
When they are customers, farmers
want assured supply at a price that is
cheaper than their competitor and
they want free hats. If they don't get
it, they have the choice to buy
elsewhere.
But as suppliers to processors,
farmers expect the packer "to buy
whatever we choose to produce (size
and quality), when we choose to
supply it (no assured supply), at the
highest price that is the same for
everybody ... and give us free hats.
They should not have a choice who
they buy from."
Processors demand the same
things farmers expect from their
suppliers, he said, to get what they
want, when they want it, at a price
that is cheaper than the competitor.
And they don't care if they get hats.0
Gay Lea reports
record profits
at Brussels meeting
More than 400 members of Gay
Lea Foods Co-operative Limited
attending the Zone 1 meeting in
Brussels Monday learned the co-op
had a record year in 1998-99.
Net earnings for the co-op reached