The Rural Voice, 1993-10, Page 57PERTH 11,*
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.
Of this and that for Pork Producers
The opinion expressed within does
not necessarily reflect the view of Perth
County Pork Producers' Association.
GOLF TOURNAMENT
The 10th annual PCPPA golf tourn-
ament held September 1 at the Listowel
Golf Course was again a good time for
producers and industry people to
compare notes and fellowship over a
friendly game. There was a full field of
approximately 120 golfers. On behalf
of PCPPA, I would like to thank the
committee headed by Ted Groenestege
and Kurt Keller for their time and
efforts.
From the golf committee: Thank
you to "John Moore Insurance" from
Dublin for donating and preparing
lunch for the PCPPA golf tournament.
Also to Grand Valley Fortifiers from
Cambridge for supplying and preparing
the pork steaks for supper. It was very
much appreciated.
LETTER TO PCPPA
Contracts at the start were a good
attempt to stimulate the market.
However, the current Sunday night
delivery contracts are not giving us the
desired results because to me it seems
to subtract from the pool. My
suggestion would be that the hogs the
processors need Sunday night for
Monday morning startup be sold on
Thursday to stimulate aggressive
bidding. These loads would have to be
identified so producers would be
committed to delivery.
Jack DeGroot 393-5514
NOMINATIONS
PCPPA would like to invite
nominations for Perth County Pork
Producer of the Year and for Perth
County Pork Promoter of the Year.
The Producer of the year nomination
should be someone who has contribu-
ted significantly to the pork industry in
the past year or years. This contribu-
tion could take or be a combination in
different areas such as their farming
operation (innovative ideas and/or ex-
cellent production), their involvement
with community organizations or with
PCPPA or with political issues or with
other areas. The Pork Promoter of the
year could be a producer or anyone
who promotes pork such as grocery
store operator or a restaurantier. Pro-
motion is a major contribution to our
industry as it helps to get the message
out that pork is lean and healthy and
should be the meat of choice.
PRICE SPREAD BETWEEN
ONTARIO AND U.S.
Much has been said and many of us
are now feeling upset that we seem to
be receiving less than our American
counterparts. The debate continues as
to how much the spread actually is.
When we hear and read comparisons,
we should realize there are numerous
variables in the conversion from a U.S.
live price to a Canadian dressed -price
equivalent. To me the difference seems
to be less than $10 a hog or approxi-
mately the value of countervail on live
hogs plus transportation. The solutions
in my opinion to date are inadequate
and would benefit only a few in the
industry instead of the majority. At a
recent PCPPA meeting an additional
idea was presented which has
possibilities, the P.P.P.P.
P.P.P.P. PROPOSED PORK
PROJECT
The concept is a co-operative kill
and chill plant owned and run by pro-
ducers with the possibility of shipping
carcasses to the U.S. and avoiding
countervail. The desired result would
be a positive impact on the price
received for all Ontario hogs to help to.
rectify this negative basis problem we
are currently so aware of. This PPPP is
still in its infancy stages. The group is
looking for producers to invest $100
and commit themselves to consider
shipping their hogs to this co-operative
if it appears viable after further study.
The group is moving quickly and
hope if all details are worked out to be
looking for hogs by early 1994. A
possible plant is being considered that
would cost about $5 million to
purchase and renovate and could
process about 15,000 carcasses a week.
The local Perth County group involved
is Phil Anwender, Peter Huitema, Ivan
Roobreck, Gary Van Loon and their
temporary current contact person
Arnold Van Moorsel who can be
reached at 347-2642. Take the time to
call to find out more information or to
request a sign up sheet if you think this
idea could have potential for the
Onts:,o situation.
ELECTION AND COUNTERVAIL
Now is the time to again remind,
lobby, push, etc. our candidates
regarding the countervail duty that is
hurting our prices. We may not be able
to force the removal of this duty but we
should try. However, it does seem
reasonable that the review period
should happen at preset time instead of
allowing periods of high countervail to
go for a long time before being
reviewed while periods of low
countervail are quickly reviewed by the
Americans.
Producer letters are important.
Apparently, our MP Harry Brightwell,
after receiving just two letters from
producers, sent a letter to Tom Hockin,
Minister of Trade. Also, he indicated
that these were the first complaints
about countervail in a couple of years
and therefore he thought producers in
Perth County felt countervail was not a
significant issue. (He had also
dialogued with some producers.)
Perth County producers, we need
to do better than this. Let's tell our
politicians in no uncertain terms to
get rid of countervail, and if they are
not able to do this, they need to at
least get the countervail implemented
in a consistent and fair way. Write
today. Ask questions and present
information at candidates meetings.
. For more information contact our
PCPPA president John Crowley at 393-
6403.
written by Clare Schlegel
Pork Products available from:
Wayne Hartung at 291-4038
Alfred Young at 348-9352
Fred DeMartines at 393-6812
Martin VanBakel at 345-2666
Dennis Zehr at 595-4771
OCTOBER 1993 53