Garlic growers offer lesson to other producers

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Published: June 13, 2002

As David and Goliath stories go, it doesn’t get much better than 50 or

so Ontario garlic farmers taking on the People’s Republic of China,

with 1.2 billion people or so.

After watching dumped garlic from China swamp their market, depress

their price and drive many farmers out of the business, the Garlic

Growers Association of Ontario decided to fight back.

For six years, it spent thousands of dollars fighting Chinese imports

in front of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal. Earlier this

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year, it won a five-year respite when the CITT and the Canada Customs

and Revenue Agency confirmed duties of $1.82 per pound of garlic

imported from China and Vietnam.

“That protection gives us some time to rebuild our industry,” said

association president Wayne Passmore.

“We were really getting hammered. It is difficult to fight an organized

monster, so I think it has been a significant accomplishment.”

Passmore said the Ontario industry, which produces 80 percent of

Canada’s garlic, is now gearing up for a significant expansion.

Within five years, he expects acreage to expand seven-fold to 3,500.

The previous high was 2,000 acres, but years of depressed prices drove

many farmers to abandon the crop.

Even with the expansion, domestic production will fill just half the

Canadian demand, he said.

As for farmers in other sectors facing what they consider to be unfair

foreign competition, Passmore advises them not to be afraid to use the

available trade protection laws, including the CITT. The rules can work.

Be tenacious, he added, no matter how big the adversary. It took two

tries before the garlic growers won all-year duty protection and they

had to reverse an earlier tribunal decision to offer protection only

during the summer harvest season.

Be prepared for a long and costly fight. The small industry spent six

years in the fight at considerable expense for Ottawa representatives

to argue the case.

Passmore said garlic growers have told Ottawa the government should

consider paying back some of their costs since duties collected on

imports, starting with seasonal duties several years ago, have netted

the government more than $5 million.

“I don’t honestly think we will get any response,” he said.

“The government probably doesn’t like to fund someone fighting the

government.”

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