The Rural Voice, 1989-10, Page 78PERTH logic
County Pork Producers NEWSLETTER
Clare Schlegel, President
R. R. 4, Stratford N5A 6S5 655-2750
' The Rural Voice is provided to Perth
County Pork Producers by the PCPPA
GOLF TOURNAMENT
This year's golf tournament was a great
success, with 112 golfers. The change in
date and place from last year seemed very
positive, producing many good comments
about the cooler weather and beautiful
course in Listowel.
In order to make it more fun and a little
faster, the system of "best ball" was used.
Everybody in a foursome shoots from where
the best shot ball lands.
The many prizes donated by county
businesses contributed greatly to the success
of the day, and we thank you for them. Thank
you also to Daco for supplying and cooking
the pork burgers for lunch and pork steaks for
supper. A special thanks to course manager
Bob Zister and his staff — arrangements are
in the works to return to Listowel next year.
The tournament committee including Vince
Hulshof, Kurt Keller, Cinth Vogels, Ted
Groenestege, Paul Vandewalle, and Ken
Aitcheson, with George Lupton and Willy
Keller on registration, did an excellent job.
On behalf of the golfers, thank you.
SEPT. 6 DIRECTORS MEETING
Rob Staffen of Staffen's grocery stores
spoke to the directors about the retail food
business. At present, chain stores like A & P,
Loblaws, and Dominion have 72 per cent of
the Ontario market; independents have the
rest. Rob sees a trend toward bigger stores,
possibly up to an average size of 40,000
square feet. The trend is also to stores being
open longer hours — this may eventually
include Sunday. Shoppers want more serv-
ice both at the product level — for example,
more information on products and their
preparation — and at the personal level —
shoppers want courteous, friendly people to
wait on them. Store managers in general
appreciate the type of market thrust that the
OPPMB is doing in that they are given infor-
mation and recipes to hand out to the con-
sumers with their purchase.
Our association is looking into hiring a
part-time person to enhance the board's
promotion program by regularly calling on
local retailers and restaurants, as well as
running some local promotion campaigns.
Other counties have done this with good
success, and some financial help is available
from the board.
John Lichti, a North Zone director on the
OPPMB and chairman of the board's Com-
munications Committee, reported on a meet-
ing he held with 31 presidents of county
associations. The meeting was to gather
ideas on strengthening communications and
steamlining the policy development process.
76 THE RURAL VOICE
Based on this meeting, the Communications
Committee has come forward with some
recommendations that will result in
strengthening grassroots involvement.
The details have yet to be worked out, but
essentially what is being proposed is that the
board identify major issues facing the indus-
try and prepare discussion papers on these
issues, giving both/all sides of the argu-
ments.
These papers were to be presented and
discussed at the semi-annual meeting in Sep-
tember or possibly at regional meetings in
the fall attended by appropriate board direc-
tors and staff. These factual presentations
and discussions provide the basis for further
dialogue at county annual meetings and the
formulation of resolutions on the issues at
hand. These proposed changes do not pre-
clude the introduction of any discussion or
resolution not covered in the discussion
paper.
This process represents a significant
change from the way resolutions have been
arrived at in the past. It certainly puts more
onus on councilmen to be better informed
about how their industry operates.
The recommendations of the Communi-
cations Committee were prescnted at the
semi-annual meeting on September 13 and
the committee was given unanimous consent
to have a trial run starting this fall.
OPPMB SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING
Chairman's Challenge
In his address, Chairman Dave
McDonald put achallenge squarely in the lap
of the Ontario pork industry. He reported
that the world pork industry is in a state of
great change and that the coming years are
going to be very competitive for Ontario
pork producers. Because we export a signifi-
cant portion of our production — about 30
per cent for all Canada — we have to be very
aware of who our competitors are and what
they are doing. We are going to have to
decide how we are going to meet this compe-
tition, both at the individual farm level and at
the board level. Specific plans will have to
be formulated with goals and objectives
established at all levels and then acted on.
Market Efficiency Study
Dr. Larry Martin reported on the prog-
ress made so far by the committee studying
our hog marketing efficiency. A discussion
paper was presented outlining alternatives
for improving our system, including full
booking of hogs, forward selling, FOB zones
to give greater flexibility in hog allocation to
packing plants, packer contracts with distant
OPPMB yards, contract supply for certain
time periods (e.g., three-hour start-up on
Monday morning), and premiums for assem-
bling hogs at inconvenient times (e.g., Sun-
day evening).
The committee will be going to the pack-
ers, truckers, and producers for further in-
depth discussion on this complex issue.
Countervail
Helmut Loewen, general manager of the
board, brought everybody "up to speed" on
the countervail duty situation. The present
level of countervail duty is 3.6 cents per
pound. This level was determined using the
period when stabilization payments were
low. When the duty is reassessed next year
the period of higher stabilization payments
will be used, and therefore it is thought that
the level may be raised substantially.
The packers appear able to cope with the
3.6 cent level but say they cannot stay in the
American market with the threat of higher
duties over their heads, particularly since
any increase in duty would be retroactive and
payable in a lump sum, which could be
millions of dollars.
The Canada Pork Council, an associa-
tion of Canadian hog marketing boards, has
had discussions on four possible courses of
action:
1) have the marketing board collect and
pay all the duty,
2) start a fund for that portion of the duty
above the 3.6 cents and let the 3.6 cents come
out of the market price,
3) collect and pay some other portion of
the duty, and
4) pay none of the duty up front; that is,
let it all come out of the market price.
Near the end of the meeting the follow-
ing resolution carne to the floor:
Be it resolved that the Ontario pork pro-
ducers not contribute toward the countervail
duties on fresh and frozen pork products.
The resolution generated a lot of good
discussion and in the end was passed by a
margin of 85 for and 70 against, giving our
board some direction on the countervail duty
problem.
Electronic Funds Deposit
Many producers are having the board
deposit their hog cheques electronically in
their bank account. It is just as fast as getting
it through the mail. The hog statements are
still mailed to you. Phone the board (416-
621-1874) for more information.
P.S. A postal strike is looming.
(Special thanks to Elma Mutual Insur-
ance for faxing this newsletter.)
Gordon Jack