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Zurich Citizens News, 1971-04-29, Page 4tzr PAGE FOUR ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1971 What the Consumer should know about this Chicken and Egg War By FRED W. BEESON Editor, Canada Poultryman What's this 'chicken and egg war' all about? Is it a war, and if so, who's waging it? Well, it's a struggle for markets, brought about by automation within the industry that has made production of eggs, chicken and turkey so easy that we can continually overproduce, with a resulting soft market, pricewise. Producers in some provinces have, through self-discipline, regulat- ed their supply to fit the available market, while other provinces with no regulations in force, have consistently overproduced and dumped their products into the regulated areas, many times at below cost. The poultry business isn't what it used to be, like the time when nearly everyone upon retire- ment thought how nice it would be to have a chicken farm, and what fun it would be to pick up all the eggs every day. Today the average man or family in this business has about one hundred thousand dollars invested in buildings, equipment and land, and many have a great deal more than that. It is low -profit, fast turnover, big volume business — a business, not a hobby — and run by business men, not what many consumers might think of as 'just a farmer.' Any break in price, then, can have a most serious effect on net in- come. When I tell you that one cent per lb. for chicken or turkey, at farm level, or 2d per dozen on eggs, up or down, makes a difference of $4,000 net per year to today's average size grower, you can under- stand how PRICE is of paramount importance. I'll give you a hypothetical illustration. You are working for a large manufacturing company. There is a lot of unemployment, so your boss, being a nice fellow, decides to take on ten per cent more workers so that they can have a paycheck. He cannot increase his sales so his costs naturally go up, and as he cannot increase his selling price either, the money to pay this extra help has to come from somewhere, Where does he get it? Why, from you, of course. He cuts everyone's rate of pay by ten per cent! If that sounds unacceptable to you, then consider how the poul- tryman who has regulated his supply to fit demand, feels when ex- cess product is put on his market with the inevitable result that the price goes down. This, then, is what the 'chicken and egg war' is all about — markets and prices. Take a broiler grower in Ontario, for example. He grows for a net cost of 18d per lb. live weight. His marketing board sets his selling price to the processor at 22d, so he makes 4d per lb. His annual grow - out is 400,000 lbs. so he makes $16,000. That's possibly more than you make, but remember, he has a hundred thousand dollars invest- ed, with no doubt some of it bank money to be repaid with interest. All is well, though, until Quebec, which is overproducing, ships chicken into this man's market. Down goes the price, one cent, then two cents, perhaps three cents per Ib. Then he hollers, and why shouldn't he? At 3d down, his net income has dropped $12,000 or 75%, Quebec has been doing this in Ontario, and' all the way west to British Columbia; and with turkeys. With eggs it's been the other way round. Quebec has a marketing board and growers are on quota. But Ontario and Manitoba have no quotas or other means of regulation and have been increasing produc- tion beyond all reason, and they have been expecting Quebec to take this excess production. They have also shipped west and weakened Alberta's market, and Alberta has a marketing board and is trying to practice Supply Management, or managing the supply. So Quebec and Alberta both holler. And all these hollerings have been directed at the respective pro- vincial governments, who, naturally, will not let their good tax pay- ing growers be sold down the river, so they give the marketing boards the authority to control all product coming in from another province. AIR That, in the opinion of some people, is Balkanizing the country! Maybe it is, but in my opinion it is no more Balkanizing than the situ- ation we have in the oil industry where no western oil is sold east of a line drawn across the Ottawa Valley in Ontario, and where new oil wells are capped in Alberta if the supply is already sufficient. Or, the restrictions that lawyers and doctors face in moving from one prov- ince to another. Or, trying to get work without joining, and paying dues to, a union. All these instances might be described as Balkan- izing, It is a catchy phrase, with very little meaning. All industries need some regulation today and the poultry indus- Fred W. Beeson ZURICH Citizens NEWS PRINTED BY SOUTH HURON PUBLISHERS LIMITED, ZURICH HERB TURKHEIM, Publisher Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385 .a11 ��* al t Member: f�� Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association IIII Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association O Subscription Rates: $4.00 per year in advance in Canada; $5.00 in United States and Foreign; single copies 10 cents try is no exception. Without regulation we continually face a market collapse. In this so-called 'chicken and egg war' it is to the credit of every province from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, that, with their new authorities over inter -provincial movement of product, there has been not one single instance of raising prices above what they were before the trouble started. The Dominion Bureau of Statistics has published a Retail Price Index of MEAT, comparing 1949 prices with 1969. Beef, in those 20 years has increased 78%, with all red meats up 61%, and all poultry meat down 20%. Eggs, also, are down today at Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto compared to 20 years ago. That means that you, as consumers, are buying eggs, chicken and turkey at lower prices today than 20 years ago. What else is LOWER? HOW SMILEY DEALT WITH OFFICER TYPES Last week I had a rare chance to do something I've always wanted to do, and I seized it with both hands and my tongue. I was speaking to the Vimy Branch, Royal Canadian Legion, at its annual observance of the battle for Vimy Ridge. The Vimy branch is unique in that nearly all its members are ex - officers of the Canadian armed forces. On the program for the banque was printed a list of the exec- utive and the past presidents. It contained a bounty of Brigadiers, a confusion of Colonels, a mess of Majors, a wedge of Wing Commanders and a scattering of Squadron Leaders. Senior offic- ers. Sitting ducks. Ever since my days as a fledg- ling fighter pilot, I've enjoyed a fine conviction that there is no possible way anyone can pound anything into the head of a senior officer. Here was a golden opportunity to prove my theory, and I sailed into it with gusto. I didn't use a phoney survey or a lot of statist- ical facts, but personal exper- ience, and I let them have it with both barrels. As a flying student, I first ran into the obtuseness of the senior officer. This wing commander, the chief flying instructor, nearly had a stroke because I'd tried to land from one end of the runway while another student was trying to land down the other. How was I to know the wind had changed 180 degrees since I'd taken off? During advanced flying train- ing in England, a similar occur- rence deepened my conviction. I was coming in to land, every sense alert and my mind dally- ing with a 72 -hour pass and a chubby Land Army girl. Some fool down on the runway started firing red flares, I went around again, and again he did it. I had checked the windsock carefully this time, so knew it was his fault, not mine. On my fourth approach, I did the usual cockpit check and no red flares went up. I rolled to a stop and the squadron leader was standing in his jeep, his face a sort of mul- berry shade. And once again the insensitivity of senior officers was displayed. Not only did he call me a stupid clot who should be sent back to Canada in a strait -jacket, but the dirty dog cancelled my weekend pass. And all because I'd forgotten one little item on my first three approaches: putting my wheels down. Then there was my squadron commander in France. I was his No. Two and we'd made a dive- bombing attack, firing our can- non as we dived, which was our wont, not to hit anything, but to bolster our nerves. He shouted something on the way down, but I thought it was something silly like, "Hammer the Hun, " so paid no attention, closed my eyes, as was my wont, and squeezed the tit. When we landed, he was in a terrible flap because I was the only one who had dropped his bombs - on the wrong side of the bomb line. I thought it was damn poor navigation on his part. I think what really bothered him was that I'd shot off a bit of his wing on the way down. Then there was the ridiculous squadron leader in flying control who made me land with a hang- up. In those days a hang-up was not some trivial emotional dist- urbance. It was a fused bomb, dangling by its tail from your wing. I tried to get rid of it over the sea. Nothing worked. Hopefully, I suggested, "Shall I bail out?" His reply: "Don't be silly. We need that aircraft." Pilots were cheap, aircraft expensive. One bounce on landing and it would be meat, me, all over the landscape. And I was always known as Two Bounce Smiley. Did you ever see a mouse with kid gloves on, walking on egg- shells? That's the way I landed. But what hurt was that he would 'nt let me land on the metal air -strip, as he didn't want it torn up when I blew up. I had to land on the bumpy verge be- side the strip. Just a few of the examples I gave to the senior officers in my audience of the bone -head- edness of senior officers. They took it well, because, of course, they didn't understand. I offered to step into the alley, afterwards, with any senior officer. Provid- ed he was over 80. Two ancient bragadiers had to be forcibly restrained. 0 Computers play a big part in the operation of modern thermal -electric generating stations. Pickering nuclear station, slated to begin operation this year, will have eight computers controlling the operation of its four units. Ontario hydro has its own fleet of 12 helicopters to inspect and string power lines, transport men and materials and spray rights-of-way. 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