SUPPLY MAGEGEMENT

[ag-boy]

Today policies in Canada ,s dairy, egg
and poultry products, have been in place to protect them and guarantee them a profit!!!!
The system is getting a lot of attention in the International Europa
market.
Yes it keeps prices artificial high
and using the high quota price as cost plus added to product .
think about! no possible way to start
getting into this high ,price piece of paper called ;QUOTA,S ; !! for any young farmer .

[grassfarmer]

Supply management doesn't guarantee a profit - it guarantees a price for their product but the producer still has to be able to run a business and make a profit - some can't just like in any other sector.
I wouldn't be too worried about attracting too much attention in Europe where every producer gets a "single farm payment" subsidy cheque every year. That is a taxpayer funded subsidised agriculture versus a consumer and processor funded fixed price model in supply management here.
I'd much rather have this system than one where dairy or poultry producers can't make a profit after supplying processors with their raw materials below the cost of production then get a Government organised bail-out using tax payer money as has happened in beef and hogs.

I think overpriced dairy products are a non-issue for most consumers here - they just load them up in their trolleys without much thought from what I've seen. Nobody would argue that chicken was overpriced at retail level would they?

Young people can and do enter the SM industries - certainly many come from Europe where land has a higher value but I know several who have taken on debts that would have scared me but with hard work and good management can pay it off in about 14 years. With increasing land values in other sectors the same issue arises yet the profitability is often not there to repay the capital investment.

[Happytrails]

Ag boy needs a spell checker... GF needs a BS filter. Would reduce the volume huge. HT

PS How can anyone argue with a straight face that a country with the potential to grow several as much food as their own population needs should limit agricultural production to fit the domestic market???

[grassfarmer]

With a straight face what is your objective as a farmer?
a. to produce several times the quantity of produce this country can consume?

or

b. produce enough to earn a sustainable living for your family?

My answer is b.

Note I kept it in simple fashion for you HT - just choose a. or b. as I notice you weren't able to provide any answers to the last questions I asked you.

[Happytrails]

Back in the dark ages when I was in school we were told that the great plains of north america were the bread basket for the crowded nations of Europe. We later found out that was somewhat simplistic. However there was a principle involved that is still valid today. Going forward I think we should grow food for export if we have the capacity and the economics are right. Supply management is an inward looking system of privilege that bars us from world markets (appetites). I know you want to make a living farming... so do I. I put my trust in markets way more than governments or farmers unions. Question answered?

[grassfarmer]

Which world markets are we barred from because of supply management? Name a country - I always liked to ask that at ABP meetings when it was trotted out as a "market access" issue and I never did get the name of one country.

[Happytrails]

The dairy and egg markets for a start.

[grassfarmer]

OK, so name a country that has shown a commitment or desire to buy eggs and milk from us if we didn't have supply management.

[kato]

It won't be the Americans, that's for sure. They've got a boom and bust/expansion/collapse/bailout cycle in their dairy that makes the beef cycle look insignificant. And all those cull dairy cows do nothing but harm to the beef cow prices as well.

I think anyone who has the energy to get up every day, day after day after day, endlessly, to milk cows deserves to make a living. It's a work grind that very few other people would take on.

They earn every cent, and I don't begrudge them a bit of it.

[kato]

In fact, if there's a reason the Americans would like to push us to get rid of supply management, it's so they can ship us all their excess overproduction.

It's certainly NOT so they can buy ours.

I repeat...

It's certainly NOT so they can buy ours.

[burnt]

It's on the table.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/11/13/canada-wants-to-join-u-s-and-asia-pacific-region-free-trade-deal-harper/

[cpallett]

HT, as a Canadian consumer is it OK for me to be thrilled to the bone that my children are not exposed to milk and dairy products produced by animals injected with bovine growth hormone? Because I am eternally grateful for that (thank you Dr. Margaret Haydon).

Kato is right. Get rid of supply management on eggs and dairy and we will have cheap product from the US and elsewhere dumped into our market. Cheap potentially unsafe product. No thanks.

Food safety, in my view, is the most compelling issue to create and drive the political will to preserve and enhance agriculture in Canada, as well as being the most intelligent way to reduce health care costs. You may have noticed that cancer has now passed heart disease as the number one cause of death in Canada.

[kato]

Good point about the BST. It's hard on the cows. It brings a 25% increase in mastitis, a 40% reduction in fertility, a 55% increase in lameness, and a decrease in body condition. Which all adds up to cows being burned out young. Not a pretty picture, is it?

But that doesn't matter if you're working on a slim margin, like the American dairies are. They have to use those cows up by all means, just to stay in business.

If Harper sells the marketing boards out, just to enter yet another trade agreement with doubtful benefit, then he should be ashamed of himself.

[grassfarmer]

You have not only Dr. Haydon to thank Cameron, the National Farmers Union was heavily involved in the campaign to keep rBST milk out of the Canadian system - the only commodity organisation that got involved I believe.

[rkaiser]

Okay -- 2 bits --- Does supply management really work? Maybe it is keeping the Americans milk out of Canada, but is it also holding Canadian producers back from creating niche market opportunities? Don't know of many milk, chicken or even pork producers anymore who have not "bought" in to the industry with dollars from either outside the country and or outside the industry.

Yes there will be a backlash from current producers if the sand shifts and the castles fall. All structures are unstable after all.

It could lead to bigger and even more concentrated dairy and hog operations, but it could also lead to more entrepreneurial ventures.

The BST thing is an issue, but so are hormonal implants, ractopamine and antibiotic feed additives in our cattle.

I personally feel that offering the consumer a choice is a better way than control.

Yes the Americans have BST and GMOs and on and on, but they also still have choice and I think they have even more choice than Canadians at times. The Organic industry in the USA is way further along than Canada.

Too late to think that the government can protect us from ourselves --- we have to do it ourselves and if that means we start with niche marketing and watch it grow -- so be it. What is time anyway besides and illusion..LOL

How many people would have thought, ten years ago that there would be as many natural beef producers groups in Canada as there are now?