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24 THE RURAL VOICE
follow the lead of some of the new
northern U.S. co-ops where members
buy delivery rights, says Akalay. It
means that members pay according to
the volume they want to have
processed. Larger users of the co-op
invest more than the smaller users.
While the size of the investment
has made some producers reluctant to
join the co-op, Kressibucher points
out those dollars wouldn't buy much
additional quota (at the current rate
of $25-$26 per quota unit). The
investment buys some insurance
against future loss of supply
management, he says. "For $20,000
you can bring your farm into the next
phase of the marketplace."
While the new co-ops are different
than the old, Akalay says the
inspiration is the same one that has
been behind the growth of co-ops
over the past century. Farmers today
realize that they can't afford to lose
control of their products at the farm
gate. To keep agriculture viable there
must be some sort of integration of
processing with production. On some
level farmers have always known
they had to work together if they
were to succeed, he says.
There are considerable
differences in the two co-ops
Akalay has been involved
with. Emu producers had to create a
market while chicken producers had
a well-established market. There
were no production restrictions for
emu producers but strict quota
regulations for the chicken producers.
But there are also a lot of things in
common between the new co-ops,
Akalay says, even in unlikely areas.
He's working with aboriginal peoples
in Northern Ontario on a forestry co-
op and some of the problems are
remarkably similar to the Farm Fresh
situation.
And through all the new
generation co-ops is the recognition
that you can't do it alone, Akalay
says. You can't afford to build your
own chicken or emu processing
plant, but if 20 or 30 or 100
producers get together, they can
make it work.
The dollars may be bigger, the
commitment may be bigger, but the
movement plays on the same strength
of rural co-operation that built barns
and schools and communities ... and
co-ops, in the past.°