Better Pork - October 2006

Behind The Lines

Can anything be more contentious than the marketing of farm products, and the political and economic machinery that develops behind those sales?

Likely not, and over the years this topic has arisen so many times across so many commodities, including pork, that the current discussion about bringing an end to Ontario Pork’s central desk selling system might not grab the attention it deserves, despite the pork board’s efforts to stimulate discussion among producers across the province. This is a critical issue for the Ontario industry however and that is why we have devoted our cover story to it this month. (see story on page 6) of The Battle is Joined on Single Desk Selling in Ontario, by Don Stoneman.

Consider the history of the Ontario Pork Producers’ Marketing Board, now most commonly known as Ontario Pork. The board was formed in the 1950s to market hogs. The goal in the 1950s was to protect the many producers across the province against the infinitely stronger power of relatively few buyers. (The board pork has since taken on other functions in representing its producers, and rightly so.)

In the mid-1990s, the pork board responded to demands from both producers and government to change. Its slaughter hog auction was abandoned. Individual producers were allowed to enter into contracts with particular packers. The board retained authority to “sign off” on all contracts between producers and processors, although this power was controversial.

Fast forward to 2006. There are far fewer pork producers now, and most of them are dealing with more pigs than producers in the ‘50s could ever have imagined. Can a producer from 50 years ago have imagined that weaner pigs would never see a finishing barn in Canada; that instead Ontario producers would actually contract with barn owners in the United States to finish pigs there? Not likely. So it’s no surprise that there are demands for changes to the system and those demands for change are a good thing. But along with fewer producers there are fewer packers to buy hogs, and one of those packers is the largest single producer of pigs in the province and therefore wields a lot of clout in the marketplace.

Does the single desk still serve a function here in Ontario? In the coming fall and winter Ontario producers will be pondering this question. In our health column on page 34, veterinarian Ernest Sanford looks at saliva as a source of fluid for a possible diagnostic test for Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS). And on page 38 Kate Procter reports on some positive initial results with a new Circo Virus vaccine have raised hopes that an end to the dramatic losses suffered by the Ontario industry might be in sight. Reduced numbers of hogs being marketed however suggest that PRRS and related diseases are still taking a toll on Ontario producers. The marketing board notes that during the short marketing week following Labour Day, 85,418 head were marketed, eight per cent fewer than the same four days in early September in the previous year. BP

ROBERT IRWIN