Gerry Prins doesn’t like orderly marketing, and he thinks he’s got good reasons. He told a recent meeting of Ontario farmers that orderly marketing keeps too many farmers in business and prevents food prices from being lower.
You have to give the man marks for being straightforward and representing his stakeholders. He heads a national association of independent grocers, all of whom would undoubtedly like to pay a bit less for their stocks, and attract more customers by offering food at, say, half a bit less. That’s how you make profit.
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On the other hand, it’s equally understandable that our correspondent reported that the audience of farmers became “increasingly hostile” as Prins spoke. Fortunately, Liberal MP and former NFU president Wayne Easter was there to present an opposing view.
Collective orderly marketing, Easter said, “has allowed producers to plan with some sense of security and stability, and in the process it has provided consumers with high-quality products at reasonable prices.”
Easter’s remarks, of course, were most applicable to Canada’s supply-managed food-production sectors. But the principles also apply to grains marketed through the Canadian Wheat Board system.
Since those grains are largely destined for foreign customers, grain farmers are susceptible to the gyrations of world prices. On the other hand, the Board’s pooling system guarantees that no one will be caught at the low point of market cycles throughout the crop year. And its single-desk selling ability enables it to realize premium prices in selected markets.
Also, just as orderly marketing in the form of supply management has given Canadian consumers a reliable supply of high-quality products like milk and eggs, the Wheat Board system provides foreign customers with grain whose high quality can be relied upon.
Having a single exporting agency for wheat and barley makes it immeasurably easier to schedule grain movement to match sales and ship arrivals.
The system isn’t perfect – labor disruptions, for example, can interfere with delivery commitments to customers. But it’s better than any other grain-exporting country’s system. Efficiency evident in high turnovers at grain storage facilities means less handling cost to be deducted from farmers’ paycheques.
The coming vote on whether to keep barley exports under Wheat Board control will be a test for the entire concept of orderly marketing.
In casting their votes, farmers might well consider the implications of the grocers’ viewpoint.
