The Rural Voice, 2003-04, Page 35100 pigs can get the same price as
farmers with 1,000 pigs.
Robert Perras of Ontario Pork's
policy development steering
committee was not as sure small
producers have been well served
since the single -desk selling agency
was abandoned. Operator of a 100 -
sow farrow -to -finish operation in
eastern Ontario, Perras said other
partners in the food chain, processors
and retailers, are making good profits
but farming is in a crisis. Reinstating
the single desk sales agency would
help get pork producers a little bit
larger share of the consumer food
dollar, he argued.
When the Ontario Pork
Producers Marketing Board
was formed the idea was to
have one price for all producers by
pooling expenses like transportation
and operation of assembly yards but
today all that has been abandoned.
"We've stripped ourselves of these
important economic equalizers,"
Perras argued.
Meanwhile the Quebec system has
built on the original Ontario concept
creating a system where all producers
have the same access to processing
whether they ship 14 pigs or 1,000. It
has brought unity to their industry
because all producers are treated the
same, Perras argued.
But direct contracting has brought
disunity in Ontario, he said. "We
have to get our act together and start
influencing our government," Perras
stated.
Pork producers had to fight
against the Ontario government to
get their board established in the first
place, and only by showing their
unity and clout did they earn the
grudging respect of government.
"Respect is earned and maintained,"
he said.
Bob Hunsberger of Progressive
Pork Producers at Breslau was the
third speaker on the panel, telling
how the 173 members of his co-op
have vertically integrated from the
bottom up. When the group took over
Conestoga Packers in November
2001 it could process 3,000 hogs a
week. In the first year production
grew to 8,000 a week and
modifications are being planned that
would expand the capacity to handle
13,000 a week, the current
production of the membership.
But the new realities of the
marketplace became obvious for
members when it was discovered that
there was a significant variation in
the pigs being shipped from the
membership. The pigs were produced
for a provincial indexing system that
was heavily weighted toward the
absence of fat, not the presence of
muscle, and a packing plant makes
its money on muscle, Hunsberger
said.
The membership had a wide
variety of genetic and nutrition
suppliers, he said, but members have
been eager to modify their operations
to get quality to the level needed by
the plant. The yield average dropped
when PPP took over the plant but it is
back up and the muscle depth now
exceeds the average of the pigs
processed prior to the buyout.
The average member has 200
sows and ships 4,000 market pigs per
year but farms range in size from
fewer than 1,000 pigs shipped a year
to 25,000.
"We think this is an example of
family farmers who work together to
get more out of the market,"
Hunsberger said.0
Custom Farm
Services
We have a complete line
of equipment from
Air Drills to Combines
that can provide
Fast and Efficient Service.
Custom Spraying with a Rogator.
Plus! There is still time to order seed
for your unconfirmed acres with .Seeds
supplied by
or:S*
We can give you an
unbeatable combination.
Phone Kristen or Pete for details
519-233-3218
HILL & HILL
FARMS
Varna, Ontario
APRIL 2003 31