The Rural Voice, 2001-11, Page 47PERTH 11T
County Pork Producers NEWSLETTER
Jim Van Herk, President
519-595-4863
• The Rural Voice is provided to Perth
County Pork Producers by the PCPPA.
In support of a round table for Ontario
Any opinions expressed herein may
not necessarily reflect the views of
the Perth County Pork Producers'
Association.
I'll be finishing my third year on
Perth County Pork Producers'
Communications Committee this
year. I started at the end of 1998 and
we all know what 1998 was like. In
the fall of 1998, meeting halls were
packed with producers wondering
what was happening to their market
and trying to figure out what to do
about it.
In 2000 and 2001 we as live hog
producers have had the longest,
consistently high price for live hogs
that I have ever experienced.
Consumer demand for pork
worldwide must be very strong. I just
read that Japan is increasing
consumption of pork at the expense
of beef in the wake of Mad Cow
Disease concerns. It seems that we,
as live hog producers, are producing
what the consumer wants right now.
I would like to see a competitive
market maintained to send the right
signals up and down the supply chain
based on supply and demand. The
potential for profit is what drives
almost every business. If that profit
comes about by hard work and good
management then it is well earned,
but if it is increased at the expense of
others in the supply chain, then this is
where friction will develop. All
segments of the•pork supply chain
should have an opportunity to make a
profit to maintain optimism and
productivity.
The Round Table format being
promoted currently here in Ontario is
a step in the right direction I believe.
It should be a place of interaction
among all the segments of the pork
supply chain. It could be made up of
representatives of government,
processors, and producers to start off
with; maybe later others could be
brought in gradually such as retailers,
university extension people, swine
breeders, feed suppliers, veterinar-
ians, labour unions, etc. For it to
work to everyone's satisfaction the
different players around the table
should view each as needing the
other. I hope that an "inclusive"
vision would develop. If one
player dominates the outcome of any
plan or agreement or refuses to
participate unless talks go only their
own way, it will undermine the
Round Table concept. The meetings
should be scheduled on a regular
basis with the same time elapsing
between meetings, so that they
don't wait until some crisis has
occurred. I wouldn't rule out having
emergency meetings but it is
important to meet on a regular basis
in order to maintain good working
relationships.
In early 1999 a delegation of pork
producers from Perth and other
counties visited Quebec to observe
how their pork industry operates.
They brought back information for
Ontario producers.
Quebec has a Round Table. It is
probably the centrepiece of their
cohesive pork industry. They seem to
go ahead increasing production at a
steady pace, regardless of what the
marketplace is paying for hogs. They
have been increasing production at a
steady five per cent per year,
although I read that it was two per
cent this past year. Their pork
processors are aggressively market-
ing pork into the Ontario and U.S.
marketplace. They don't seem to
have wild swings in production. they
seem to have brought all players
together in co-operation so that all
will prosper.
Quebec's pork producers enjoy the
highest stabilization of any province
in Canada as far as I know. Their
packing plants, too, have strikes by
their workers from time to time but
they seem to be very short induration
and a settlement is reached fairly
quickly. I am told that all of their hog
packing plants are double -shifted,
further increasing their efficiency.
They seem to be able to negotiate
with one another and find some
"middle ground" that everyone can
live with. The threat of "it's my way
or else" will doom any talks. All the
players sitting around this Round
Table in Quebec deem it to be very
important to be there. I don't think
for a moment that all the talks are
harmonious at all times, but they
keep talking until they have
hammered out an agreement that all
• can live with.
At some point, though, the market
would be at a saturation point. I have
• also read recently that Quebec has
had the sharpest increase in land
prices on average of all the provinces
in Canada, so their safety -net pack-
ages plus environmental concerns
driving the need for enough land to
spread manure m.ay have had an
effect.
I think that the Ontario pork
industry should embark on a course
along similar lines as the Quebec
pork industry, but we should go
ahead carefully and with as much
wisdom as possible. The end result
will probably be a little bit different
than in Quebec but I think that the
formation of a Round Table here in
Ontario is a very important first
step.°
— Submitted by Gerald H. Kolkman
PERTH COUNTY PORK PRODUCERS'
PORK PRODUCTS
• Smoked Pork Chops • Fresh Pork Chops • Stuffed Loin Chops • Smoked Sausage •
Smoked Cheddar Sausage • Bacon Burgers • Teriyaki Pork Steaks • Vittorio's BBQ Sauce
AVAILABLE FROM:
Steve Hulshof (Kinkora) 348-8167
Martin van Bakel (Dublin) 345-2666
Walter Bosch (Monkton) 356-9000
Ted Keller (Mitchell) 348-9836
NOVEMBER 2001.45