Guelph, November, 1998. - The Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario has endorsed the concept of one deal-maker for the sale of all Ontario hogs. The organization also called on the governmen create a shrot-term financial support program for pork producers.

Those concepts were endorsed at a recent meeting of the provincial Board of the CFFO. Farmers from 22 districts across the province gave their endorsement after hearing about the worst drop in pork prices in recent memory.

"Pork producers are going through a prolonged period of below cost of production pricing," said Bob Bedggood, a pork producer who serves as the CFFO's president. "We need government to help out in the short-term and to work with us to provide stability for the long term."

Bedggood, along with other farm leaders, has been actively working with federal and provincial politicians to address the issue of declines in farm income. In fact, immediately after the CFFO's Provincial Board meeting, Bedggood traveled to Ottawa to pass along the Federation's call for a support program to Lyle Vanclief, the federal agriculture minister.

Bedggood's request for short-term assistance stressed the historic CFFO policies of targetting programs to family farmers and a requirement for a set maximum on the number of dollars a farmer can obtain from a payout.

Jasper Vanderbas, a pork producer who serves as a CFFO vice-president, believes that structural change needs to take place to ensure better long-term prices for Ontario hog farmers. While current industry trends are pointing towards creating more sellers of hogs in Ontario, Vanderbas believes that producers would benefit more from moving towards one selling agency empowered to be the sole deal-maker for the sale of all Ontario hogs.

"Creating more competition between producers for the sale of hogs does not create higher prices," said Vanderbas. "With fewer buyers today for our hogs, it actually drives the price down. We need one selling agency for all Ontario hogs in order to create increased stability within the industry."

Vanderbas' comments are based on observations he made during a recent travel fellowship to the Netherlands. Sponsored by the Ontario Pork Congress, the travel fellowship allowed Vanderbas to study the marketing experiences of Dutch cucumber growers. Faced with a declining number of buyers, those growers have recently abandoned an auction selling system and created an agency to sell all cucumbers produced in the Netherlands. The results have been positive, with greater prdfits generated for growers and more Industry stability.

"When there are only one or two buyers for your product, you do not receive strong purchase bids with an auction sales system," said Vanderbas. "Producers of a commodity need fewer sellers, not more, to deal effectively with fewer buyers."

Elbert van Donkersgoed, the executive director of the CFFO, predicts that hog farmers will likely face price deflation for several years. He says the increassel productivity of newer technology, combined with fewer trade barriers and changes in Asia's financial markets will create a price spiral downwards for many agricultural commodities. "Deflation will be with us for a Iong time," said van Donkersgoed. "Agriculture has to be ready to address the challenges that declining prices will bring."

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