VANCOUVER – If supply-management producers become more efficient and market responsive to new world trade rules, it may be beneficial for everyone, suggest sector leaders.
Robin Robinson, a British Columbia milk producer, told the Canada Grains Council that while the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is a bad deal for dairy producers, they will survive and prosper.
Dairy producers are expecting to face surpluses of butterfat in the next couple of years, tighter margins for milk, with the greatest benefits going to multinational companies, the Dairy Farmers of Canada director said.
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He predicted a national pooling in milk will replace the existing 10 pools in existence, and closer alliances will develop between producers and processors.
Tighter margins will lead to fewer farms and more production, but will also mean greater freedom for farmers to develop their production to be competitive.
Egg producers have concerns
Market problems and cost of production concerned Keith McKerracher, from the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency in Ottawa. He said as tariffs are introduced and then decline, egg producers will need to be more efficient and more competitive with the U.S.
While the current tariffs are to come down 15 percent by the year 2000, American egg producers have their “eye on the world” and want tariffs down to zero in four years.
“If that happened, we wouldn’t have an egg industry at all in Canada,” McKerracher said.
He also said egg producers now are “subsidizing our own debt,”referring to the selling of surplus eggs to food processing companies whose products replace table eggs.
Bob Friesen, from the Canadian Turkey Marketing Agency in Ottawa, said change is also needed for the poultry industry. As quotas are replaced by tariffs that are subject to reduction, rules are expected to change, harmonization of standards will take place, and there will be increased competitive pressure.
“Provincially and federally we need to react in a co-ordinated fashion. … It’s important to have commitment from provinces to work together.”
Strategic alliance benefits all
He said for the first time a strategic alliance has developed between producers and processors at various levels to deal with concerns and provide a forum to help insure benefits for all in the industry.
Friesen believes the changes will be to everyone’s benefit. Resources are needed to analyze the market accurately. More efficiency must take place at all levels, and be passed on to the consumers, he said.
