The Rural Voice, 2002-06, Page 65PERTH Plk
County Pork Producers NEWSLETTER
Jim Van Nes, President
519-393-6712
The Rural Voice is provided to Perth
County Pork Producers by the PCPPA
Politics and politicians affect pork producers
Any opinions expressed herein may
not necessarily reflect the views of
the Perth County Pork Producers'
Association.
The forces that affect local pork
producers continue to change.
In world politics decisions made
by the Bush administration have led
to a drop in the pork price. The U.S.
government has put tariffs on imports
of lumber and steel. The Russian
government has halted imports of
chicken in retaliation.
The decision to halt imports of
chicken has done two things. It has
increased domestic price of Russian
chicken, a subsidy of sorts to Russian
farmers. It has led to a backlog of
cheap chicken in the U.S. Prices for
chicken have dropped in the
supermarket. The price of pork and
beef has had to drop to compete with
.extra chicken in the market. As of
this writing exports of chicken to
Russian have not resumed.
The Canadian pork industry
should be becoming concerned with
U.S. trade policy. While the U.S.
talks free trade they are acting as
protectionists. The U.S. Farm bill,
steel and lumber tariffs, country of
Perth County Pork
Producers'
next meeting
is June 5, 2002
7:30 p.m.
Location: Office of
Dr. G. Charbonneau,
413 Hibernia St.,
Stratford
origin package labeling, are some different.
concerns.
U.S. pig producers are losing
money at today's prices and with
future forecasting up to a year at
these prices. It is not conceivable to
foresee a tariff or possibly closing of
borders to Canadian live hogs
(including SEW and feeder pigs) and
Canadian processed pork.
In Ontario we have a new premier
(Ernie Eves) and minister of
Agriculture (Helen Johns). Producer
groups will have to start training the
new minister all over again.
In pork politics the saga continues.
Ontario Pork has accepted another
resignation from a CEO (just
wondering, although he signed it did
he write it?). In the past four years we
have had four CEOs. At the annual
meeting why were councillors not
told about problems at the provincial
level. If they had known, the vote on
restructuring might have been
The board of directors (managers)
must look inside at themselves and
realize that these problems are
coming from within the directors'
boardroom. Restructuring is needed
desperately! Why does this industry
not deserve the best directors from
Ontario, regardless of county of
residence?
In local politics Perth County
council will be dealing with another
motion to restrict agriculture even
more. This would supercede Nutrient
Management Plans and make it
necessary to have more land to be
able to build.
The goal of any politician and
producer body should be to better
society and allow room for the next
generation to begin. Hopefully the
future will bring more swingsets, not
less to rural Ontario.°
— Submitted by Jim Van Nes
PCPA President
PERTH COUNTY PORK PRODUCERS'
PORK PRODUCTS
• Smoked Pork Chops • Fresh Pork Chops
• Stuffed Loin Chops • Smoked Sausage
• Smoked Cheddar Sausage
• Bacon Burgers • Teriyaki Pork Steaks
• Vittorio's BBQ Sauce
AVAILABLE FROM:
Steve Hulshof (Kinkora) 348-8167
Martin van Bakel (Dublin) 345-2666
Walter Bosch (Monkton) 356-9000
Ted Keller (Mitchell) 348-9836
JUNE 2002 61