The Rural Voice, 2006-05, Page 57i
PERTH 11'R
County Pork Producers NEWSLETTER
Russ Danbrook, President
519-356-2385
• The Rural Voice is provided to Perth
County Pork Prodeicers by the PCPPA.
Slow approvals leave Canadian farmers uncompetitive
Any opinions expressed herein may
not necessarily reflect the views of
the Perth County Pork Producers'
Association.
Farming is difficult, they have
always told me but I just never knew
why until now. I have actually only
been in the business personally for
four years, and I have not truly seen
the real business difficulties of it until
now. Making ends meet this year has
been difficult in an environment with
a high Canadian dollar, a saturated
Canadian meat market and an
increasingly overbearing regulatory
government that doesn't put
agriculture's interests high on their
list.
The regulatory environment,
which we find ourselves in, is a
detriment to our industry as a whole.
One particular example of this has
been in the Animal Health Industry.
Animal Health Products (AHP) seem
to be costing more in Canada than
they do with our closest competitor,
the U.S. It has been frustrating for
end users (farmers) but also for AHP
manufacturers. At a recent meeting
with the manufacturers of AHP, it
was explained to us why.
When a product is initially
developed, it takes time to set it
through regulatory systems in various
countries. Products, as you know.
carry patents that span usually 15-20
years. It is essential for a company to
get a product approved for use well
before a patent runs out so that the
company can enjoy an "exclusive"
profit on that product before they are
subject to generic competition. It
makes spending the money on the
regulatory process worth its while.
AHP have a painstakingly long
process which they must follow with
the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency (CFIA) and Health Canada to
get approval for use in Canada as
compared to the U.S. Extensive
emphasis on public/media perception
of lax food safety standards in
Canada and stories of indecisive and
even inactive ,long-standing
government bureaucrats are all partly
to blame for the long process.
Furthermore, there are more onerous
requirements of needing information
of approval from other countries
before Canada would even consider a
review.
As a result it takes four times
longer to get an AHP approved in
Canada. By the time it passes the
regulatory hurdles in Canada, several
AHP patents are near expiry. There
are six times fewer swine to divide
regulatory costs over in Canada (in
the case of swine AHP) than in the
U.S. To top off all these
disadvantages, recently, some older
AHPs have been put under new
scrutiny and manufacturers have been
asked by the government to submit
new field data to "reprove" some of
their long-standing commonly used
products.
These frustrating hurdles are
contributing reasons for Canadian
farmers having to absorb seemingly
higher AHP costs than our closest
competitor, the U.S. Can it get worse
in the future? Probably. Taking the
knee-jerk reactions the CFIA has
taken to our industry as an example,
it gets me worried. For example,
producers have been using
clortetracycline for years in animal
feed but this year, CFIA has
determined there to be a problem
with it giving a "yellow bone" to pigs
in the slaughter house. In addition.
CFIA has cracked down on
autogenous vaccine manufacturers.
limiting the use of an individual
vaccine for the farmer. These
vaccines greatly and effectively
reduce some of our dependence on
broad-spectrum antibiotics and now it
will be more difficult to access it.
We are all aware and concerned
for the safety of our food and have
taken initiatives to assure food safety
in our country. However. the
government of Canada must not be
subject to making media (therefore
eventually public) perception of an
issue a reality based on that
perception. We all know that it is the
mass urban population's votes that
they need. not the farmers. As long
as they continue with that attitude
towards their policies on food safety
and agriculture as a whole to garner
or hold onto support for them, even if
it doesn't make scientific or let alone
common sense. then we as farmers
will continue on this downward
spiral, taking it from the top without
any compensation. As a result. the
regulatory agencies in this country
may find that over time that they will
have regulated farmers. all supporting
industry. and most importantly
themselves. out of a job.0
— Submitted by Rob Nvenhuis '
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
Walter Bosch (Monkton) 356-9000
Ted Keller (Mitchell) 348-9836
MAY 2006 53