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The Rural Voice, 2000-03, Page 557 PERTH ifIltk County Pork Producers NEWSLETTER Jim Van Herk, President 519-595-4863 • The Rural Voice is provided to Perth County Pork Producers by the PCPPA. PCPPA annual meeting highlights Any opinions expressed herein may not necessarily reflect the views of the Perth County Pork Producers' Association. The Perth County Pork Producers held their annual meeting on Wednesday, January 26, 2000 at the Elma Community Centre in Atwood. The room was comfortably full of fellow producers and industry related partners. Our guest speaker was Crystal Mackay who is currently employed with Ontario Pork in the communications department. Crystal compared the difference between city life and country life by show'ng us various slides and how we as rural people might react compared to how urban people view the same situation. She stressed how important it is for us as producers to educate urban people by showing them how we do things and why we do them that way. One of the best ways to do this is by working at the displays at the Royal Winter Fair or the CNE, she suggested. Crystal's final slide had the phrase "Measure wealth not by what you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money." Larry Skinner, who is one of,the two representatives Perth County has on the Ontario Pork Board gave us an overview of the new protocols and procedures for supply agreements that Ontario Pork is trying to implement. Supply Agreements is a new term for contracts which have been a much talked about subject over the last year or two. Ontario Pork hopes these new protocols will redefine some of the rules and regulations which hogs are sold by here in Ontario. The end goal of Ontario Pork is to have equal access to supply agreements by all producers both big and small. Stu DeVries, forward contract specialist with Ontario Pork discussed details of the new feeder - pig formula price program which was designed to help pork producers access a fair and equitable market for buyers and sellers of feeder pigs. This new program allows feeder pig producers access to a forward pricing program which they have not had in the past. Anyone who is interested,in the new program should contact Stu at Ontario Pork. There were five resolutions that were passed and one resolution was defeated. They are as follows: 1) The first resolution called for Ontario Pork to make changes to the current protocols of contracting to give Ontario Pork more control and to reaffirm Ontario Pork's mandate that all hogs be sold through the board. This resolution passed unanimously and shows that there is strong support for the new protocols that were introduced that evening. 2) This resolution asks Ontario Pork to implement a Standing Offer Program which will allow producers to seta target price and if the forward contract price reaches that level then the hogs specified are automatically forward sold. Manitoba pork has a program like this for their producers and a Targe per cent of forward contract hogs are sold under this program. There was strong support for this resolution. 3) The third resolution asks Ontario Pork to make packers more responsible for the hogs they have signed up on contract during holiday weeks: Some packers like to sign up as many hogs as possible on contract to guarantee supply but on holiday weeks they don't want all the hogs they signed contracts for. Ontario Pork must then try to find another packer to take these hogs on a short week when everyone has the same problem so usually these hogs sell for less money. This resolution would require packers who do not take all their contract hogs, to reimburse to producers the difference between what Ontario Pork actually received from the alternative market for these hogs and what the packer would have been required to pay under the terms of their contract. 4) This resolution asks Ontario Pork to break down the weekly contract price so when we compare prices from the weekly pool and the weekly pool plus we can make a better comparison. Currently the weekly contract price includes floor price contracts, window pontract prices, platinum contracts, forward sold contracts, and formula based contracts. The resolution stipulates that the weekly contract price should only include the contracts with formula based prices. 5) The last resolution that was passed dealt with a way to deal with people who do not abide by their Nutrient Management Plan within reason. If a person grossly violates their Nutrient Management Plan then they will not qualify for a building permit for future expansion. It's important to remember that resolutions are not rules cast in stone but a way of showing the Pork Board in Toronto how the grass roots feel on various ideas and concerns.0 - Submitted by John N►'enhuis 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: Fred de Martines (Sebr.) 393-6812 Martin van Bake! (Dublin) 345-2666 Walter Bosch (Monkton) 356-9000 Ted Keller (Mitchell) 348-9836 MARCH 2000 53