The Rural Voice, 1999-05, Page 431
outside the quota, about five per cent
of total egg production. Crcam
producers make up less than a quarter
of one per cent of milk production,
O'Neill says.
Why couldn't small scale
producers be allowed to
produce up to one per cent
of the market without quota, Bennett
suggests. Production from this group
could be capped at one per cent. "It
wouldn't hurt anyone in the industry
to have an exemption," he says.
But Villeneuve says the
comparison of the egg and dairy
businesses isn't apt. The cream
production is the equivalent of a lot
more than 100 hens, he says. Giving
small scale dairy producers a quota -
free production could lead to
overproduction.
"The concern is if they arc
allowed, it could be a crack in the
door that would open the floodgates."
Ropp looks at the 1.5 per cent
quota increase all dairy producers
received last August as a possible
source of allowing small producers to
get into the business or to expand.
"Give us the quota and let us
establish a pool," he says of the
increase. He'd gladly have given up
his quota increase if it could have
been part of creating a new pool from
which he could borrow four per cern,
he says.
O'Neill says there's a clash of
mindsets between the mainstream
thinking about where the industry is
headed and the remaining cream
producers. "We farm without big
incomes," says the Thamesford-area
producer, "but we keep our money in
the community. Other have louder
voices for their vision of the dairy
industry. I don't see why it has to be
totally one way."
The cream quota conversion
policy has created a lot of hardship
and within the Amish community,
Bennett says because some
communities have switched to bulk
tanks while others feel it goes against
their religion. To force the Old Order
farmers to use bulk tanks is really
equivalent to forcing a religious
conversion, he claims.
If the Old Order farmers were to
take their case to court, Bennett feels
sure they would win by using the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A
judge already used a Charter
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