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The Rural Voice, 1990-04, Page 96PERTH tMk County Pork Producers NEWSLETTER Vince Hulshof, President R. R. 1, Sebringville, NOK 1X0 393-5586 The Rural Voice is provided to Perth County Pork Producers by the PCPPA The following is a letter in reply to the request made by the Perth County pork producers to circulate a letter we sent about the way Canadian hog pro- ducersfeel about the American counter- vail action on Canadian hogs and pork: Dear Mr. Schlegel: Thank you for your letter of Febru- ary 13. I and my fellow pork producers in Iowa always value meaningful ex- changes of information between pork producers in other parts of the world. In direct response to your request for such an exchange, we would be pleased to participate in a meeting to discuss further the countervailing duty issue. Producers from Iowa have met with Canadian producers on several occa- sions. In fact, only a year ago my fellow pork producer, Jerry Becker, met with you and other producers from Perth County. More recently, Don Gingerich, a pork producer from Parnell, Iowa, who serves as president of the National Pork Producers Council, met with Canadian producers to discuss this issue. It's my hope that meetings of this type will lead to a situation where U.S. and Canadian pork producers will com- pete equally. However, I believe at this point Iowa producers would not be in- terested in, nor benefit from, an addi- tional airing of the countervailing issue in our publication. Iowa pork producers are very well informed about the par- ticulars of the issue. Both points of view have received exhaustive coverage in association and commercial swine pub- lications and popular newspapers. In fact, we were pleased to provide an opportunity for your organization to comment on the issue in the May 1989 issue of our publication, the Iowa Pork Producer. There has been ample print space and broadcast time for producers to decide upon a course of action. They WE WANT YOUR GRAIN! Corn Soybeans Feed Grains Quality Oats Damaged Grains CASH & FORWARD CONTRACTS Call us today for Quotes Dave Gordon Elizabeth Armstrong Richard Smibert Ian Carter 41A0'.4 london agricultural commodities, inc. 1112 HYDE PARK ROAD HYDE PARK, ONTARIO NOM 1ZO 519-473-9333 Toll Free (519)1-800-265-1885 (416-705) 1-800-265-1874 92 THE RURAL VOICE CANADA'S ORGANIC NEWS ®COGnition Magazine of the Canadian Organic Growers - your complete organic foods, farming & gardening news 4x per year. Subscription - $16./year. Send cheque payable to Canadian Organic Growers, Box 6408, Station 'J' Ottawa, Ontario, K2A 3Y6 Now more than 14,000 FARMERS are waiting to hear about your products! Place your advertisement in The Rural Voice, a magazine which promotes the agricultural industry Call 519-524-7668 have done so by supporting efforts to seek countervailing duties against live hogs and pork products from Canada. Our association will continue to serve them by its commitment to the duty until such time as Canadian pork enterprise subsidy programs are eliminated. I would like to take this opportunity to address again a few of the points you raised in your letter. I agree that pork marketing is more global now than ever. If we should all have equal access to the global marketplace, not to mention the North American marketplace, why should we not then compete in the pro- duction area on equal footing? Our producers benefit from no direct pork enterprise subsidy program. The fact that Canadian producers do benefit from such a risk -bearing subsidy program, in spite of the fact that a portion of the cost is borne by producers, creates a funda- mental imbalance in production cost competitiveness .. . I recognize the difference in size between the pork industries in our two countries. I believe, however, you un- derestimate the impact your industry has on ours. I can assure you, a change in pork production of only a few per cent has a dramatic impact on U.S. producer profitability, reaching into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Imports of subsi- dized live hogs and pork products from your country have had a direct and nega- tive effect on the pocketbooks of every pork producer in the U.S. Our association supports strong ties between the U.S. and Canada. We welcome competition from pork pro- ducers willing to compete on equal footing. Consumers, and ultimately pork producers, will benefit from this competition. We believe your Tripartite Stabilization Program not only places U.S. producers at an unfair disadvan- tage, but ultimately disadvantages your own producers by reducing their need to respond to true market signals. Produc- ers who are unresponsive to market signals will ultimately lose touch with those who buy their products. Again, I thank you for your letter. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Jon Caspers, President Iowa Pork Producers Association