The Rural Voice, 1993-03, Page 57PERTH iritk
County Pork Producers NEWSLETTER
John Crowley, President
R.R. 2, Gadshill, ON NOK 1J0 393-6403
• The Rural Voice is provided to Perth
County Pork Producers by the PCPPA.
Perth Pork Producers hold their annual meeting
Perth County Pork Producers'
Association annual meeting was held
Thursday, January 28, 1993. The
meeting started with a presentation
made to Ivan and Ann Roobroech
(Carcass Competition), Vince and
Nancy Hulshof (Producer of the
Year) and John and Lorene
Donaldson (Promotion Award). John
Donaldson, owner and manager of
Lori-Jo's in Stratford was also the
guest speaker. He elaborated on the
current need of pork quality and
niche marketing. He also said the
past two years in the food retailing
business has been very difficult,
predicting a reduction in the number
of stores.
President John Crowley's message
urged that the OPPMB be maintained
as the sole body to assemble and sell
hogs, "splinter groups will weaken
the common goal."
The average pool price for 1992
was $131, down $15 from the
previous year. Two per cent more
hogs were sold in Ontario. The
tripartite program had a $151 million
deficit in October 1992 but a reduced
payout suggests a zero balance in
1994. The OPPMB is lobbying to
have the tripartite formula changed
and also for NISA to cover 100 per
cent of hog sales.
If the bi-national panel ruling
stands, the U.S. countervail will be
reduced from 4.39 to 0.51 cents for
the April 1988 to March 1989 period.
Nine thousand hogs a week are
sold by contracts primarily for
Monday morning delivery.
Ontario Swine Improvement Inc.
is now in operation taking over the
Ontario Swine A.I. Association and
ultimately co-ordinating the genetic
program in the province (previous
reported in The Rural Voice).
Toronto staff has been reduced 12 per
cent to 53 people.
There were six motions carried
that will be forwarded to the OPPMB
annual meeting March 17 and 18 in
Toronto.
• OPPMB take action in preventing
American market hogs from entering
Canada (pseudorabies prevention)
• OPPMB approach Cold Springs
Farms to once again process crippled
sows
• OPPMB lobby the government to
monitor and control the increases on
the costs of hydro to its rural
customers
• OPPMB withdraw our commit-
ment to Stable Funding until a vote of
all affected producers can be held
• OPPMB lobby the Crop Insurance
Commission to correct this situation
(problem of measuring volumes or
weights of high moisture corn silos)
• OPPMB lobby the Crop Insurance
Commission to include bulk density
on calculating the amounts of corn in
high moisture silos
The annual meeting concluded
with President Jim Goodhand and
Vice -President John Lichti
commenting on sulfa, prices
production and service fees.
Personally when I stepped back
from the annual meeting, I felt we
need to maintain our focus on what
the Pork Industry is trying to achieve.
We need to continually evaluate all
the insinuating
circumstances,
communicate the
changes and
maintain our
production and
marketing focus.
How much has
the Pork Industry
changed as a
result of the
changing
demographics?
(Population
growth is slow.
One-third of the
new population
is immigrants.
There are fewer
children — thus
demanding
smaller
packages, convenient and fresh. Two
income families are setting the pace
of new food fads.)
Before World War II food was
eaten because it was a fuel, people
needed the calories. Now consumers
eat for good health, pleasure and
because it is part of a social
environment. The consumer is
placing unprecedented demands on
the food system concerning nutrition,
food safety as well as convenience.
With agriculture and the food
industry being confronted by a whole
range of new environmental
challenges and concerns about things
like animal welfare, global markets
and changing public policies,
opportunities are created for our
small, flexible, agile industry.
While all these things are going
on, agriculture is becoming an
increasingly high-tech industry with
biotechnology, electronic sensors,
robotics and new information
processing capacities. More
predictions are showing these
changes are best dealt within a family
farm atmosphere. We need to
maintain our vision to the end user.0
Richard Smelski
Vince and Nancy Hulshof (left) receive the Producer of
the Year award.
MARCH 1993 53