At a national egg convention held here last week, Manitoba egg farmers tried to explain their ambitious strategies to their neighbors.
They toured their visitors through the Canadian Inovatech Inc. plant, the largest egg processor and exporter in the country.
Hugh Wiebe, head of the company, talked to the group about markets. Jeff Lawson of Clark Hy-Line Inc. spoke about consumer trends.
They even brought in a motivational speaker to encourage producers to think about change, innovation, attitude and image.
Kim McConnell ran an old proverb past egg producers.
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“Whom the gods wish to destroy, they send 40 years of success.”
The prompted one wag in the crowd to pipe up: “We have 15 years left.”
But visiting farmers said they didn’t hear anything they hadn’t heard
before.
They said they understand why Manitoba is taking ambitious steps to secure markets: they just don’t agree with how they are doing it.
They are worried about becoming contract growers like their U.S. egg growing neighbors, and losing the benefits of Canada’s supply management system.
Mike Hart, chair of Alberta’s egg marketing agency, said he sympathizes with Manitoba’s position.
The loss of the Crow grain transportation subsidy has forced prairie provinces to find uses for their grain at home.
Everyone wants growth, said Hart, but everyone worries about the cost. Producing eggs for processors at half the cost of Canadian production could threaten some farmers’ survival.
Finding national consensus on how to supply processors is frustrating and slow-moving, said Hart.
“We’ve all been in that situation where we felt they (the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency) had to be prodded with a fork to get moving,” he said.
But he thinks farmers should let processors import eggs from the U.S. until CEMA agrees on how all farmers and provinces can profit.
Michel Gauvin, chair of the Quebec egg marketing agency, said he agrees Canadian egg producers must fill the growing needs of egg processors like Canadian Inovatech.
But Gauvin, a farmer from Ste. Hyacinthe, Que., said he wants to make sure new production and pricing systems for processors don’t harm supply management.
All provinces need a national system but he is concerned Manitoba producers think they can go it alone.
And he thinks Manitoba producers are tying their future too closely to Inovatech.
“They (Inovatech) seem to rule Manitoba now, and I don’t like that,” said Gauvin.
He’s concerned about low prices for processed eggs, the impact of a higher Canadian dollar would have on markets, and what would happen if Inovatech lost markets and didn’t require the extra eggs Manitoba wants to produce for the company.
Gauvin said the politics of the egg industry are not unlike Canadian politics. He expects the Canadian Egg Management Agency to come to a fragile peace over the issue.
“For years, from time to time, we come to the brink of losing everything,” said Gauvin.
“Somehow, we find a way to move along,” he said.
“It has a tendency not to last too long between crises.”
