The Rural Voice, 1985-09, Page 17life between free market and supply
management and I believe that this
best suits our Canadian market.
I am going to take a little space to
briefly outline another marketing ap-
proach.
1. Each producer would be given
quota for his percentage of the
domestic market, and that amount of
production would have a made -in -
Canada price on it. (To me it is only
fair to have the portion of production
to be eaten in Canada reflect the price
of what it cost to grow it here.)
2. If a farmer wished to produce
only for the domestic market he could
cut back to that rate and the price per
unit would reflect it.
3. If a farmer wished to produce
for the export market as well there
would be no production controls at
all, nor would there be any price sup-
ports or subsidies from the taxpayers
of this country.
The reasons 1 think this production
plan has merit are:
1. A cost -of -production formula
for domestic production is fair
because our inputs are purchased
from a North American market so the
price for my pork should be based on
a Canadian or North American price
— i.e., I pay an electrician $30 an
hour to come to work on my farm, so
why should I sell him pork at 65¢ a
pound?
2. By having quota only for
domestic production it allows the
producer to cut back to that level and
get a higher unit cost. Or it gives the
flexibility of producing for the
domestic and/or export markets,
depending on the world price. There
is no reason to think that there would
be any more retaliation under GATT
than presently exists since there
would be no support: (i.e. tax) for any
export product.
Now I am sure that people can find
problems with my suggestions, maybe
even severe problems that would
make the production plan imprac
tical. Nevertheless it is important for
all of us to look at any proposal
critically and to evaluate it fairly. It
only happens a few times in
everyone's life that the conditions are
right for change. If we as producers,
producer boards, general farm
organizations, and politicians do not
take advantage of that time period to
make a better marketing system, we
will not have helped the next genera-
tion and all the suffering will have
been to no avail.
Have a practical eye for any market
plan but be as critical of those who
want the status quo. ❑
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SEPTEMBER 1985 15