RECENT developments in the United States are a warning to people who
manage the money in research and promotion check-off funds paid by
Canadian farmers.
Florida voters recently passed an amendment to the state’s constitution
that will outlaw the use of gestation stalls for pregnant sows.
While Florida has few hog farms, the precedent has producers elsewhere
worried that well-funded and emboldened animal rights groups will press
their agenda with new vigour.
Meanwhile, the American hog industry is in danger of losing the funding
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it needs to properly respond to its animal rights critics.
Ironically, it is a group of producers who are cutting off the money.
Several groups that support small family farms have come together to
fight the pork check-off program.
The checkoff collects 40 cents for every $100 US of hog sales from U.S.
producers. The money is administered by a board and is spent on pork
promotion programs and research.
The program is credited with helping increase pork consumption by 21
percent since it began in the mid 1980s.
But the anti-checkoff groups say the money has not stopped the rapid
disappearance of small hog farms, has not boosted hog prices, has
supported industry consolidation and has benefitted mainly processors
and retailers.
They won a referendum to eliminate the checkoff but the vote had
irregularities and the secretary of agriculture instead made minor
changes.
The farmers then took it to court and have had success, but the matter
will probably be appealed.
An almost identical situation is playing out regarding the beef
checkoff.
These developments are particularly interesting for Canadians as the
cattle industry here begins a national, mandatory checkoff. Before
this, livestock checkoffs in Canada were a provincial undertaking.
Canadian beef checkoff administrators are optimistic that the new
arrangement will help the industry’s promotion of beef in domestic and
export markets.
But the American experience provides a warning that for long-term
success, those managing check-off funds in any part of agriculture must
stay in tune with the desires and needs of those who supply the money.
That is not easy, given the often divergent interests of big and small
producers and processors.
But it is important that these difficulties be overcome because
livestock industries need proper funding to keep up with society’s
changing demands.
As the Florida vote illustrates, many people are concerned about how
their food is produced and they can make life difficult for farmers.
Producers need well-funded industries to carry out research to ensure
animals are raised humanely and efficiently, and to deliver this news
to consumers. If not, better funded groups, like extreme animal rights
activists, will have the floor unopposed.
