The chair of the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency appeared before his board of directors last week to plead for unity among members and a reduction in provincialism that he said is threatening to unravel the system.
In a later interview, Laurent Souligny said Saskatchewan’s court challenge to CEMA’s quota allocation system is one symptom of the problem, although he said it was not his intention to single out any province as the culprit.
“Pursuit of individual provincial interests are putting the national system at risk, the very system that has benefited egg producers across the country for almost two generations,” the Ontario producer said in his speech to the CEMA annual meeting March 21. “And this is wrong.”
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Souligny said the core of the system is controlling the supply of eggs on a national basis.
“When a province has an issue or a particular interest, it must be balanced against the needs of the other provinces,” he said.
“That is what supply management is all about. It works because it is national. It works because it matches supply with demand, which is one of our three pillars. If we forget the national interest or oversupply our market, we will weaken our industry. We’ll all lose.”
In its case against CEMA, Saskatchewan is claiming its comparative advantage because of cheaper feed costs should result in a production share larger than its population base would suggest. It has gone to court to challenge the CEMA allocation formula.
In 2007, Saskatchewan receives a production allocation of almost 24.5 million dozen, representing 4.5 percent of national production.
In his speech, Souligny said it is a sign of the success of the egg industry that provinces are vying to increase their share of the national system.
“As producers, we would all like to produce more eggs and make more money,” he said.
Souligny said the industry must remain united to face external challenges: trade talks threaten to lower barriers to cheaper imports; environmentalists and animal welfare activists continue to target the industry; rising grain prices will increase feed costs this year, which will probably increase egg prices.
As well, the government is determined to lower the maximum compensation for birds ordered destroyed in the event of an avian influenza outbreak to $8 from $33 maximum.
