The Rural Voice, 1986-10, Page 78NEWSLETTER - Perth County Pork Producers
Garry Van Loon, R.R. 2, Dublin, Ontario NOK 1E0
OPPMB Semi -Annual Meeting
OPPMB Chairman Tom Smith
stressed in his address the fact
that high prices are temporary and
won't last indefinitely. Gilt reten-
tion, more pigs/sow/year, and
cheap grains are all part of our hog
cycle. Increased promotion and
advertising, the Chernobyl acci-
dent, the strength of the Japanese
yen, and reduced supply all con-
tributed to higher prices.
About two-thirds of the market
hogs in Ontario are now covered
by tripartite stabilization com-
pared to 88 per cent in Saskat-
chewan and 80 per cent in Alberta.
The OPIIP program should help
farmers to improve efficiency
without increasing production
through research and direct
grants.
Our board and staff were con-
gratulated on a job well done. It
was a real team effort much ap-
preciated by all the producers.
Bill Vaags spoke on U.S. trade
and countervail. Bill is president of
the Canadian Pork Council.
Everyone at the meeting seemed
in much better spirits than at our
annual meeting in March, perhaps
because of the delicious new
"pork steaks" we had for lunch —
or could it have had something to
do with the price of pork?
Garry Van Loon
Directors' Meeting
The directors of the Perth Coun-
ty Pork Producers Association met
September 3 at the OMAF board-
room in Stratford, Chairman Peter
Huitema presiding.
Board representative John
Lichti reported from the OPPMB.
The board is still plagued with too
many pigs being delivered on Mon-
days during the day, but there are
not enough pigs available for early
Monday morning slaughter. Pro-
ducers are advised to schedule
their deliveries to help solve this
perennial problem.
John expressed his concern
over poorly defined voting
privileges at the producer level.
Customarily, each registered pro-
ducer has a vote. However, there
are many smaller producers with
several registration numbers for
members of the family, while on
the other hand there are larger
operations with several partners
which have only one registration
76 THE RURAL VOICE
number and theoretically only one
vote.
Presently there are not any pro-
blems with the system. Producers
generally vote only on resolutions
at the annual meetings and every
three years when directors and
board members are elected.
Eligibility is rarely checked and
everybody in the room has a vote.
But John feels that the present
distribution of voting privileges is
not fair and could lead to confron-
tation should there be a need for a
plebiscite or a vote on controver-
sial issues. He urged the directors
to consider changes to make the
system fairer.
John also reported that the OPP-
MB submitted a brief to the On-
tario government on the proposed
Right to Farm legislation and farm-
land severance policy. The brief
stressed the need to protect
farmers using acceptable farming
practices and to give farmers "first
in time, first in right" privileges
over non -farming residents moving
into an area. Severances should be
restricted and only available under
certain local conditions.
On a recent trip to Europe, John
visited some hog operations and
was much impressed with the effi-
ciency of operation and quality of
breeding stock in Holland. The
Dutch export 70 per cent of their
production, mostly to Germany.
The manager of a Dutch Al unit
that John visited had been to
Canada recently. The manager had
been impressed with the operation
of the OPPMB and our marketing
system, but did not think too
highly of the quality and efficiency
of our production methods.
Chairman Huitema gave an
outline of the new $54 -million On-
tario Pork Industry Incentive Pro-
gram. Details will be mailed to all
producers who shipped pigs in the
second and third quarters, and can
also be obtained from OMAF. The
program is retroactive to April and
will provide various production im-
provement and research grants.
The directors voted to instruct the
executive to appoint a committee
to study the program and make
recommendations.
Ray Stock reported that "Percy"
the pig has been entered in the Kit-
chener Octoberfest parade. Condi-
tions for entry are stringent and a
concealed towing vehicle has to be
procured.
The directors discussed the
welcome improvement in prices.
Though they are well -pleased, the
question on everybody's mind is
"How long can it last?" Hope was
expressed that the good prices will
not trigger extensive production in-
creases, but that the extra income
will be used to improve equity posi-
tions and repair and improve exis-
tent facilities.
Perth MP Harry Brightwell
outlined his work on agricultural
committees. He stressed the fact
that Quebec farmers have a very
active lobby. They scrutinize their
MPs at hearings and committee
meetings. In addition, Quebec
farmers use their ballot as a
bargaining tool. In contrast, rural
Ontario votes are more constant
and predictable. There are many
safe rural ridings and rural Ontario
may be taken for granted by politi-
cians. In addition, Brightwell
spoke favourably of his govern-
ment's policies and accomplish-
ments. An interesting comment
was that the unemployment rate in
Perth is only four per cent, with the
north end of the county having
almost full employment. In a ques-
tion period, he defended the
government's efforts at
"freer" -trade negotiations against
some skepticism over the
American's willingness to co-
operate. After all, hog farmers are
paying a countervailing duty which
they feel is not justified.
Hans Feldmann
Wallace Township
Pork Congress 1986
The congress was very well at-
tended by pork producers as well
as people from the cities. Since
one of the main objectives of this
show is to promote pork, it is nice
to see so many non -farmers show-
ing interest in pork and pork pro-
duction.
The booth from the PCPPA drew
a good number of visitors and
there were a lot of good com-
ments, which we hope to use wise-
ly as this was our first year with a
display.
We can only work well if we get
enough input from all people in-
volved in pork.
Rudy Van Dieren
R.R. 7, St. Marys