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Home My WebLink AboutTimes Advocate, 1992-01-15, Page 21Times -Advocate, January 15, 1992 Page 21 Riddell appointed chair of stock board TORONTO - Former Ontario Minister of- Agriculture and Food Jack Riddell has been appointed Chair of the Ontario Stock Yards Board. The announcement came last Tuesday frorn Ontario's present Minister of Agriculture and Food, Elmer Buchanan, as he announced the appointment of new members following nominations from the producers, processors and organi- zations that use the yards. Riddell, who served as minister from 1985-1989 and Huron MPP from 1973-90, has been involved in community and government activi- ties related to the industry for more than two decades and will now be- gin a three-year term as chair. A graduate of the Ontario Agri- cultural College at the University of Guelph, Riddell owns a Dash- wood area farm, has owned and op- erated a liveatbck sales barn and has also been an auctioneer. In addition to Riddell, others ap- pointed for a three-year term are: W. Douglas Lewis, Ontario Inde- pendent Meat Packers and Proces- sors, Napanee; Wayne Small, To- ronto Livestock -Exchange, Islington; J. Grant Smith, Ontario Milk Marketing Boards, Burgess- ville; David Whittington, Ontario Cattlemen's Association, Peterbo- rough; Ron Wight, Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency, Belle Vallee; Ken Fisk, Ontario Ministry of Agri- culture and Food, Hwri*ton. The board operates the Ontario Stock Yards at 590 Keele St. in To- ronto. The yards have tnadltionally been the key site for the sale of live cattle from all _regions of the prov- ince. However, livestock sales vol- ume declined considerably in the past decade, leading to uncertainty about the yard's future. In June 1991, Buchanan an- nounced that the ministry would continue to improve inspection pro- cedures and reallocate unused space. The board has the mandate to direct the reorganization. Swine research at CCAT HURON PARK - The 1992 Swine Research Update will lie held in the Recreation Centre at Centralia College on Wednesday January 29. This annual Update summarizes research and other top- ics of current interest to swine. pro- ducers and industry personnel. Topics on this year's program in- clude "Alternative Housing for Fin- ishing Pigs,", "How to Make the Paper mess Less Painful", "Trends in Ontario Swine Diseases", "Fac- tors Affecting Success in Swinc Farming", "Cost of Hog Production - Ontario vs Michigan", "Manage- ment Factors Affecting Litter Size," "On -Farm Manure Test Kits", "Por- cine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome", plus several others. A special return visitor to the College this year will be Dr. Barba - U.S. buyers coming to Toronto farm show TORONTO - The 1992 Canadi- an International Farm Equipment Show is attracting a great deal of interest from U.S. buying groups, accoiding to Peter Egyed, Market- ing 'Officer with the U.S. Trade Division of External Affairs and International Trade Canada. "We expect as many as 20 to 30 serious buyers from the U.S. will attend this year's Farm Show," says Egyed. "Groups from as far away as Texas, Nebraska and Min- nesota have already confirmed that they will be there." External Affairs Canada has ac- tively encouraged American atten- dance at the show through a new incoming buyers incentive pro- gram. Qualified buyers from ma- jor agricul4iral centres are selected by U.S. basitd Commercial Officers and offered complimentary 'round trip transportation to the show. "We know that many .American distributors have carried Canadian product lines for years," says Lisa Swenson, External Affairs Com- mercial Officer based in Minneapo- lis. "Because the Toronto Farm Show has become one of North America's largest and most com- plete equipment and machinery showcases,. these distributors feel that they have to attend in order to access the latest products and tech- nologies coming from Canadian companies. The Canadian International Farm Equipment Show runs from Febru- ary 4-7, 1992 at the International Centre in Toronto, Ontario. This now book Is a must. whether retiring today or in 20 years - an ideal gift! Only . 9. CHEQUE OR MONEY ORDER Regal Caapitttl Planners Ltd. 1823 :Clain Lac Sir John eLatlipte, Quebac, JIM 3W9 O: (514) 562.8542 NAA: AOORESS: 10111011k %POSTAL030 : 1 a TAll h Ott 1 ra Straw, Professor of Swine Exten- sion at the University of Nebraska. Her duties there involve extension, teaching and research. Her main ar- eas of professional interest include respiratory disease in swine and the economics of swine production. She will give -two very practical presentations at Swine Research Update, entitled "Common Produc- - tion Practices that Suppress Immu- nity in Swine" and "Pitfalls of Record -Keeping Systems in Grow/ Finish." Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. with the program running from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The fee is $20. per person which includes coffee, lunch, a copy of the proceedings and GST. For more information and to reg- ister for the program, call Centralia College (519) 228-6691, Ext. 285 or your local OMAF office. Dairy farmers, get raise MISSISSAGUA - After one and a half years without a price in- crease, Ontario dairy farmers will receive a 3.95 percent increase for milk produced for the fluid market, effective February 1. This works out to an annual rate of increase of 2.8 percent. The increase of 52.25 per hectoli- tre to 559.20 per hectolitre (or about 59 cents per litre) in Southern Ontario is the first increase paid to producers since September 3, 1990. The consumer price index rose 5.7 percent between September 1990 and November 1991. The fluid milk price refers to the price dairies pay to dairy farmers for milk used for the fluid or table market. The same increase will apply in North- ern Ontario, taking the Northern Ontario Pool and Thunder Bay Pool price to 560.49 and the Keno- ra-Rainy River Pool price to $62.49. Last. year, more than one billion litres of fluid milk products, includ- ing two percent 'milk, one percent milk, standard milk and skim milk, were sold in Ontario. Farrn efficiency gains averaged 2.5 percent annually in the 1990s and this has enabled the industry to hold the increase in raw milk prices well below the rate of inflation. Horses now cross border more easily OTTAWA - Horses Gan. now move more freely across the border thanks to the efforts of a veterinary committee struck under the Cana- da -.U.S. Free Trade Agreement. Horses taken out of country for, Tess than 30 days - for example, td take part in races and exhibitions -are' no longer required to be examined by a government veterinarian at the border crossing. • • The liberalization means savings of time and money for the farming community and animal owners. Quality control in grain made easy OTTAWA - The same technolo- gy used to produce digitized maps from space is being applied to the study of grain. Agriculture Canada collaborated with a Canadian com- pany to develop an instrument which quantifies intomation seen clearly under she'microscope using automated digital imaging .tech- nigaes,. ',The systatit - which is modestly priced, and requites little training to use -wilt help. milling companies make speedy caicuhgtioas on anr,h ` measurements as bran contamina- tion. particle site and starch dam- age in various types of four. The fluid price increase only re- lates directly to the price paid to dairy farmers. The price charged by retailers to consumers is deter- mined by market forces and is not regulated in Ontario. "This increase is no more than nine cents per 4 -litre bag or slightly more than two .cents per litre," OMMB Chairman John Core said. "The 17 -month interval betvtfeen price increases reflects the Board's desire to maintain price stability as well as p cautious approach in a weak economy," be added. "Those considerations have to.be balanced against the rising;.costs faced by producers during the 17 months and the Board's responsibil- ity to ensure reasonable returns for Ontario's dairy farmers." • i` a oaf l t e urrawv One has to wondet_what is going on within the ranks of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal and why that august body has a hate on for farm marketing boards. This tribunal's staff prepared a re- port with the help of a consulting firm -- which is not named in the report -- which blasts the bejapers out of the ways -these boards nego- tiate prices, especially for Ontario vegetable growers, for putting too much pressure no processing com- panies. How many members of that tri- bunal or its staff or, for -that matter, the . staff of .the -consulting firm, have ever had -to dig vegetable gar- den soil from under their finger- nails? How many of these self- styled guessperts have any growing experience at all? Yet, from their ivory towers they criticize. It took a friend of farmers arthe University of Guelph, Dr. Larry Martin, to shoot them down in flames. Unfortunately, some dam- age was already done. The report will be held in high esteem by con- sumer groups and many others who are stalking the corridors of power, their guns at their hips, , quite ready to draw a bead on marketing boards. Let me give you an example of some of the flaws in the report as reported by Dr. Martin at a news conference in late November. The study, says Martin, does not consider the quality that goes into Ontario canned corn and other fro- zen foods. That quality is superior to U.S. com because, for one thing, it is not cut as close to the cob. Ca- nadian standards are better for peas, as well, and-tbis fact alone accounts 13c, Proms µJa(ihc P✓ g:cc catha43 are equrpn,mr 4h6y19 urea ampere 011•11•Cil FOY for a justifiable difference in price. Martin faults the study on profes- sional and ethical standards, too. He says data from one of the larg- est companies were not available and that company is responsible for 60 percent of one set of commodi- ties and had lower costs, too. It would be similar, in my humttte opinion, -to be doing a study on Ca- nadian steel but not using any fig- ures from General Motors of Cana- da. ' The study's figures arc questiona- ble, too, because it claims corn costs $116 a tonne yet the market- ing board- for. corn negotiated rates .at less than 587 a tonne for Eh( Ca- nadian market. Let me quote Dr. Martin: There weren't enough data to make a valid comparison, so "the fact that it was made indicates again that the peo- ple who did it either didn't know what they were doing or they set out with malicious intent that ema- nates from preconceived negative conclusions about the industry that caused them to ask the wrong ques- tions in the first place." So, the perpetrators of this indict- ment against marketing beards set out to shoot Weal down rather than try to give those negotiating at the international trade level a reason- able, balanced and clear-eyed pic- ture. The report, in my humble opin- ion, is another erroneous nail in the coffin of flint marketing boards in Canada. Anyone with any inkling of what is transpiring in the GATT tacks knows that these boards, for which farmers have fought hard and long, appear to be the sacrifi- cial lamb. The Canadians Interna- tional Trade Tribunal will use this report in dealing with other counties just as sure as there is grease in a goose and it will be to the detriment of Canadian farmers. Why, for heaven's sakes, couldn't the tribunal staff and the consul- tants they hire ask a couple of farm- ers to serve on the committee pre- paring their report rather than leave it to paper pushers behind a desk who can juggle data to make them say whatever they want them to say? 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