The Rural Voice, 1991-09, Page 16It Pays
to Know
About
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12 THE RURAL VOICE
OPPMB SECRECY
IS ONLY A MYTH
Adrian Vos, from Huron County, has
contributed to The Rural Voice since
its inception in 1975.
The Ontario Pork Producers' Mar-
keting Board (OPPMB) position has
always been that a good relationship
between board and packers (seller and
customer) is essential. That makes so
much sense that no explanation is
necessary.
Now a Wellington County produ-
cer wants to know more about the
reason why there is no buying mach-
ine in Quebec.
Even when I was part of the
OPPMB, the urgings of producers at
the annual meetings to place buying
machines in Quebec and in the USA
were ignored. The reason for this
policy is quite simple. As long as
Quebec makes regular use of the
buying machine, everything is just
fine. But Quebec packers, like any
business, want enough material (hogs)
to keep their plant going full time. If
short of hogs, they, like Ontario
packers, must send their personnel
home with pay. Thus they buy just
enough to keep their men busy for the
full eight daily hours. The next day,
they may have enough hogs from
Quebec farmers and they won't buy at
all from Ontario.
Ontario packers too would love it
(and likely pay a premium) if they
would have exactly enough hogs from
their own province. But with an al-
ready uncertain supply, if exacerbated
by irregular Quebec buying, they
can't. So they buy enough extra hogs
to have a small cushion. They must
feed and water these hogs and have a
person there to manage them in their
facilities. Our packer then pays less
for the total number of hogs he buys,
to compensate for this extra cost. The
OPPMB has recognized this and tries
to supply our packers with a steady
hog flow by advising producers on
radio and TV broadcasts when over-
supply threatens. This also implies
that the number sold out of the prov-
ince will be regulated. Our packers
have favourably reacted to this by not
underbidding when they could when a
sudden glut of hogs came to market.
But when the board made a resolu-
tion to not sell to Quebec, it tied the
hands of the sales staff, forcing them
to rescind that motion quickly. The
policy to remain on good terms with
our Ontario packers is a sound one.
As far as buying machines for
United States packers goes, U.S.
packers are not interested. It is all too
complicated for them. At present, the
OPPMB sales manager phones the
U.S. packers at what price we will
deliver at his door. That is simple for
the packer and the figuring is done on
the OPPMB computer.
All the above, however, will not be
found in the board minutes. The sim-
ple reason is that this was never, to my
recollection, presented to the board in
the form of a motion. To understand
this, one must know that the OPPMB
works quite informally. If a matter,
like the Quebec buying machine, was
brought to the board, it was discussed
and, as no motion was then presented,
the subject was dropped. Result, no
buying machine for Quebec and no-
thing in the minutes. It is even poss-
ible that we discussed this across the
dinner table.
Almost all formal motions come
from committees who have looked at a
proposal from every angle. At the full
board meeting such motions are then
presented, discussed, and either ap-
proved or defeated. These motions are
in the board minutes and in the comm-
iuee minutes, but not their rationale,
unless incorporated in the "where-
as's."
The search for answers by the Wel-
lington hog farmer will therefore be
futile. Motions passed at the OPPMB
are discussed at county meetings,
when the local director reports on
board activities. That's where farmers
should ask questions.0