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10 THE RURAL VOICE
LEARN FROM
EACH OTHER
Adrian Vos, from Huron County, has
contributed to The Rural Voice since
its inception in 1975.
The apologists for the supply man-
agement marketing boards can learn
from the attitude of the Ontario Pork
Producers Marketing Board. They,
too, had the viewpoint that they had a
near -perfect system, but when returns
were less than reasonable, the direct-
ors went for help from their members
and their customers.
Not long ago I wrote in this space
that small, local butchers filled any
niches there might be, but I was pro-
ven wrong, because it now appears
that packing houses believe there are
niches for special -sized pork cuts.
Pork producers long held the view that
production of heavy carcasses was an
American aberration and only contri-
buted to the over -supply of pork.
Now they are saying there is a market
for some big pork cuts. Similarly,
small hogs were discounted because, it
was asserted, they cost too much to
process. But now that everyone has
taken a fresh look at the whole system,
the task force has found possibilities.
Most of these ideas for change came
from pork producers in the counties.
The pork experience shows that
nothing is perfect and that the sooner
the supply management boards come
off their "holier than thou" horse, the
better it will be for their members.
They would do well to emulate the
pork board: find out if the people they
represent have ideas of their own, and
for once listen to processors, retailers
and consumers.
For as long as I can remember, lo-
cal dairymen complained it was use-
less to go to the local committee meet-
ings because, "No one there listens,
and they always elect the same die-
hards for committee men." When I
suggested they should organize to
have elected people they trust, they
shrugged it off as impossible.
It is up to these boards to open
their ears and minds to learn from the
large body of the "unwashed." They
may be as surprised as the pork board
must have been on the depth of think-
ing that came from the folks at home.
There is a myth among supply ma-
nagement supporters that their system
protects the family farm. This is an
illusion, because the number of produ-
cers in the supply -managed sector
declined at about the same rate as the
number dropped in the red meat sect-
or. Like the free farming sectors, the
size of dairy and fowl farms grows.
The fowl boards enlarged the maxi-
mum quota long ago because farmers
found various ways to circumvent
maximums. A sign that this will not
stop is the current drive by some
producers to enlarge the quota above
the present 5,000 litres of milk a day.
This demand for growth is reason-
able, because the relentless improve-
ment in animal efficiency leaves well -
husbanded farms with fewer animals
and partially empty barns. Overhead
cost then becomes a larger proportion
of total cost. The real benefit of sup-
ply management is not its role as sav-
iour of the family farm, but its guaran-
teed return per unit of production.
Supply management will probably
survive in Canada in some form, but
international pressure will undoubted-
ly force changes. If our trading part-
ners drop their import barriers for our
products, Canada must follow that
lead. The marketing boards should
not wait until changes are dictated, but
do what the pork board has done.
Everyone will benefit.
A tip of the hat to Brian and Gisele
Ireland for bringing the farm story to
the general public on the CTV Shirley
talk show. And congratulations to the
farmers who wrote to CKCO Prov-
incewide protesting the presentation of
animal rights guru, Jim Mason; the
problem is that they forgot to state
where Mason was wrong, saying only
that the program hurts farmers.0