SaltWire E-Edition

Time to do away with marketing boards

Wayne Williams Bracebridge, Ont. Formerly of Newfoundland

Please allow me the opportunity to speak on marketing boards. This subject seems to be overlooked.

In the beginning, the concept was a good idea. This was back in the 1970s, when farms were plentiful, marketing particular commodities in an orderly fashion for fair returns to producers.

With so many farms in play, the costs of production were unable to be realized. This left product to be dumped on the market below the cost of production. So production quotas then came into play; each farm was allocated a certain amount to produce for the market demand. This sounded good at the time.

Fifty-odd years later, things have changed dramatically in every aspect.

The number of farms has decreased significantly compared to what they once were. Farms that are still in business have become larger to produce in volume, reducing unit costs to compete in the marketplace. A select few have taken over the farms with no caps in place, creating monopolies. These corporations are receiving government subsidies and friendly government loans.

This is all being financed by the taxpayer — we pay for this once here, and then again at the grocery store. With the high cost of food, you could say we’re paying for it twice over.

Despite the changing times, marketing boards are still operating under 1970s rules in 2023. The lack of competition, along with government subsidies, loans, and mega-size farms ought to reduce operating costs. As a select few farms, they can have their cake and eat it too in a so-called free-enterprise system. The concept of marketing boards has long passed its mandate.

Given these few examples, it seems the time has come for marketing boards to be outlawed. In today’s world, something has to be in the consumers’ favour to lower prices. Someone has to start looking out for our best interest, and it clearly won’t be them.

Ottawa is full of lobbyists prioritizing the best interests of big agriculture and Quebec. Frightened to death to stand up for us, politicians are “sticking it to the man,” which is evident given that taxpayers are carrying all these welfare programs to support the agriculture industry.

Quebec has majority control of quotas in Canada today. This is why Ottawa will not touch it — they would risk losing too many votes. We, the consumer, are paying for this through the nose as product is being dumped (literally), as trailer loads of eggs are being produced and going straight to breakout plants because of over production, and milk is being flushed down the drain alongside our faith in the current system.

OPINION

en-ca

2023-03-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://saltwire.pressreader.com/article/281659669282771

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