Manitoba’s agriculture minister made a promise four years ago that she may never keep.
Rosann Wowchuk promised hog producers in 1996 that single-desk selling would be reinstated in Manitoba if New Democrats got elected. She made the promise as the then-Conservative government prepared to dismantle the province’s marketing monopoly for hogs.
At the time, Wowchuk said single-desk selling was a source of security for producers and a guarantee of fair prices.
In a letter to The Western Producer, she said the marketing monopoly also meant security of supply for packers.
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“Dual marketing will not mean freedom for Manitoba’s 2,300 independent producers,” she wrote.
“It will open the door to expansion by large operators and to a vertically integrated system such as the one in the U.S. where large corporate farms have displaced the family farms.”
Now that her party is government, Wowchuk is less eager to talk about a return to single-desk selling.
In a May interview, the minister said the Manitoba Pork Council has not asked for a return to the single desk. Instead, producers are asking for better price reporting so that they know what a fair price is for their hogs.
Changes already have been made to improve price reporting, according to the minister, and more changes are planned.
However, the demise of single-desk selling remains part of the debate about Manitoba’s expanding hog industry.
Single-desk advocates consider it a means to protect independent family hog farms. They argue, as Wowchuk did four years ago,
that an open market leaves
producers vulnerable in a rapidly consolidating industry.
Bad decision
Gary Somerville remains one of the hog producers in Manitoba whose passions ignite when the topic of single-desk selling is mentioned. His views are emblazoned on his wife’s pickup truck.
The words “Bye Bye Filmon” are painted on the tailgate in bold, red letters to celebrate the defeat last fall of Gary Filmon’s Conservative government.
Somerville, who raises hogs near Hartney, supports a return to the single desk. He said the marketing monopoly would give hog producers the kind of market power that grain growers gain from the Canadian Wheat Board.
Somerville believes smaller, independent hog producers are at a disadvantage in the current marketplace.
In a June interview, he voiced dismay over the way the current NDP government has acted.
“We had hoped that Rosann Wowchuk would level the playing field,” he said. “We had thought that she would bring fairness back into the industry, but it appears that she may have gotten sucked up by the big bucks.”
But Manitoba Pork Council chair Marcel Hacault said he has not found compelling support for a return to the marketing
monopoly.
He said most producers would be reluctant to turn back the clock.
The open market issue arose at the NDP’s annual convention in Brandon this spring.
Gerry Friesen, president of the Manitoba Pork Marketing Co-op, told the convention that chaos had gripped the industry on the hog marketing issue. He argued that a lack of price transparency meant producers had no idea of the true market value of their hogs.
Friesen said he wanted a review, in consultation with hog producers, to learn whether the open market policy works for producers.
However, he stopped short of calling for a return to the single desk.
In a later June interview at his home near Wawanesa, Friesen was more subdued. He echoed
Hacault’s sentiment that support for a single-desk marketing agency has waned.
“The mandate is just not there,” he said. “I think people realize it would be pretty much impossible to go back.”
He appeared confident, however, that policy changes will bring the kind of price reporting that
producers need.
“It will take some time, but I think we’ll get there.”
