The Rural Voice, 1999-01, Page 44Gay Lea members
hear of record profits
Members of Gay Lca Co-
operative Ltd. who attended thc
regional meeting in Brussels
November 30 heard the company
achieved record profits in thc past
year.
Despite taking a one-time charge
of $23 million due to the co-op's
decision to get out of the cheese
business that resulted in the closing
of the Baden and Uniondale plants,
Gay Lea recorded sales of $202
million and a profit of $7.6 million.
The profit will result in a share
dividend of 90 cents per share and a
patronage dividend of 13 cents a
share, company officials explained to
shareholders from throughout the
region who gathered at the Brussels,
Morris and Grey Community Ccntrc
for a dinner and meeting.
The company's cash position is so
strong that it will be able to finance
$15 million in capital improvements
from working capital, officials said.
Included is a plan ,to buy more
property for the Guelph plant and
purchase equipment needed to
expand the milk drying capacity at a
cost of well over $10 million.
Some members questioned the
decision to get out of the cheese
business when others, such as
Quality Jersey Products of Seaforth,
are getting into it. Company officials,
however, said the Seaforth plant is in
a small -volume, niche -market while
Gay Lea's expertise and distribution
system is geared to high volume. To
compete with other high-volume
cheese makers Gay Lea would have
had to increase productiou by four or
five times what it was producing one
official said.
Thirty-three workers lost their
jobs when the two cheese plants
closed.
Eldon Bowman of R.R.1, Gorrie
was elected the Zone 1 director for a
three-year term, succeeding Ross
Campbell. He won on the second
ballot over Hebo Siertsema of R.R.3,
Blyth, Neil Vincent of R.R.3,
Wingham and Robert Martin of
Listowel.0
40 THE RURAL VOICE
News
'rice, need don't add
up for Perth white
bean growers
There's need for an additional
100,000-135,000 acrcs of white bean
production in North America in 1999
but at current prices few Ontario
growers, at least in Perth County,
seem prepared to grow them.
Producers attending the District 3
annual meeting of the Ontario Bean
Producers' Marketing Board, in
Brodhagcn, December 3, hcard that
while white bean production
continued to shift westcrward to
Minnesota, North Dakota and
Manitoba. from the traditional
strongholds in Michigan and Ontario,
increased acreages in those arcas arc
not likely to produce enough beans to
meet current demand.
Martin Huzevka, general manager
of the board estimated 1.3 million
bags are needed to satisfy demand in
1999.
The tight markets are driving up
prices and could make it attractive to
grow white beans again in Ontario
after years of declining acreage.
Huzevka estimated the pool price for
beans could be $29-$30 a bag even if
crops in the west are good. As well,
he said, much of the expansion in
Manitoba is going into marginal
areas and if the weather isn't perfect,
there could be problems.
Speaking as part of a panel with
Sean McKenzie of the Great
Canadian Bean Company, Don
Thompson Jr. of W. G. Thompson
and Sons estimated Michigan would
reverse it's downward trend in
production and grow 105,000 acrcs
of white beans next year, up from
85,000. Manitoba will likely jump
from 50,000 to 85,000 acres while
Minnesota and North Dakota will
increase acreage from 190,000 acres
to 235,000 acres. He projected
Ontario would increase it's acreage
from only 33,000 acres in 1998 to
60,000 acres.
But audience members indicated
even prices of $29-$30 a bag wcren't
enough to tempt them to grow more
acreage. When McKenzie asked the
audience who would grow more
bcans if they had a guaranteed
contract price of $29 a bag, few
hands went up. A price of $29 won't
put whitc means in the ground, one
produccr said.
Even when speakers produced
figures that showed a potential, at
those prices, to make more money on
white beans than on soybeans, there
were few producers ready to change
their mind, at least in the short term.
"Most years you come out ahead on
beans but not enough," one farmer
said.
Another producer talked about the
stress factor in growing beans.
People are fed up with the worry of
growing white beans because too
many ycars they've been hard-
pressed to get a crop off, he said.
Huzevka said the attitude
expressed at the meeting was that
there won't be enough beans grown
and therefore prices will go up
further. He said producers had four
months to see if conditions changed
enough to make them reconsider.
Larry Anderson, Board president
urged producers to keep the industry
viable in Ontario. "We still have a
quality bean industry here. Let's keep
it hcre."
Thompson said Ontario dealers
have had to set up depots in
Manitoba because of the shift west in
acreage. Ontario must maintain
80,000 acres of beans in order for the
industry to remain viable, he said.
The west has an advantage in the
cost of land, Thompson said with
land being worth $400 an acre
instead of S4,000 in southern
Ontario. However, there are
additional shipping costs of $2.50 a
100 -pound bag to get the beans east.
The dry western air also creates
problems in handling the beans
because they crack more easily.
Processors prefer the Ontario bean.
"Our customers say Ontario
produces the best beans in the
world," said Thompson.
A price of $30 a bag looks good to
western producers, Thompson said,
while in Ontario that's a minimum
price to keep producers in the market.
Indications at the Brodhagen meeting
were that it might not even do that.0