The Rural Voice, 1989-08, Page 491
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1
NEWS
the board because it was too expensive.
He also says he is a firm believer in
marketing boards and realizes that he
may be playing both ends against the
middle.
"The Egg Producers Marketing
Board is run by supply management.
They have egg producers with quotas. I
wasn't fortunate enough to get a quota.
So, I'm regulated to 500 hens and
they've cut that down to 100 hens for
new producers," says Rau.
"I couldn't see anything wrong. I
wasn't marketing any eggs through the
board. I was just selling them out the
door to egg customers who come in and
buy eggs. I was running short, so my
kids each bought 100 hens to get in on
the gravy train."
"Maybe I am trying to work it my
own way, trying to play both sides of the
street. Maybe it's wrong, but I would
not have had this last bunch of hens in if
it were not for my lawyer advising me."
The Ontario Egg Producers Market-
ing Board, Regulation 43, 1983 contains
an exemption clause for unregulated
producers, who are allowed 100 hens
provided:
a) that the person is either one or
more of the beneficial owners or
b) one or more of the tenants of the
lands and premises on which the said
fowl are possessed and on which no
other fowl are possessed.
Rau and his lawyer interpreted
"beneficial owner" as the owner of the
hens. Rau says he is entitled to 500 hens
and his wife and children are new pro-
ducers and should be entitled to 100
hens each. The court disagreed, but Rau
says he will appeal the decision.
John Wyne, quota control manager
for the board, says the egg board is not
preventing anyone from having hens but
common sense distinguishes between
someone who has a few hens producing
eggs for the immediate family and
friends, and someone who begins to
market eggs on a larger scale.
He also says that "beneficial owner"
refers to property, not to ownership of
the hens.
There are 700licensed quota holders
in Ontario, Wyne adds, and about 8,500
unregulated producers. The point is, he
says, that anyone can keep hens, but the
marketing system should not be
abused.0
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AUGUST 1989 47