By DON STONEMAN

For a bureaucrat with the livestock industry
looking over his shoulder, Jim Ashman is a pretty
funny guy. He likes cracking jokes and bears more
than a passing resemblance to the late comedian
John Candy. But the consultations he presides over
as director of the provincial agriculture
ministry's resources and regulations branch are no
laughing matter to Ontario livestock farmers. 
At stake is the province's multi-million dollar
artificial insemination (AI) business. Getting the
province's cows pregnant is mostly the bailiwick of
three big farmer owned co-ops, each with a clearly
defined territory. The big three inseminators,
under their organization, Ontario Animal Breeders
(OAB), want things to stay as they are. However,
companies from the U.S., including Cormdale
Genetics and Select Sires, as well as St. Jacobs
ABC, based in Waterloo Region, have their foot in
the door and want it thrown wide open. Both sides
espouse the well being of farmers and have
supporters in the livestock industry.
Recent pressures on this 50-year-old system have
made it untenable. Shortly after his appointment as
agriculture minister, Noble Villeneuve called for a
review of the old Artificial Insemination (AI) Act.
There was pressure as well from the swine industry,
which wants to be regulated under separate
legislation (see story page 47) . 
At a series of public consultations across the
province in the last four weeks, Ashman and other
agriculture ministry staff sought the opinions of
farmers and the industry. 
Watching the consultation closely is the
parliamentary assistant to Villeneuve, former dairy
farmer Harry Danford, who knocked former
agriculture minister Elmer Buchanan out of his seat
in the Legislature. 
"(Villeneuve) realized that changes were needed,"
Danford said at one of the consultations in Barrie
last month. "I am here as a farmer representing the
minister." 
In the bovine AI industry, there seems little in
common between the two sides.  
The Waterloo Region-based St. Jacobs ABC co-op,
which imports semen from the U.S., can only
inseminate cows within a relatively restricted
base. Its application to extend its licence to
parts of eastern Ontario now serviced by Eastern
Breeders Inc. (EBI) was turned down by Ashman last
spring. A hearing before the Farm Products Appeal
Tribunal has been scheduled for late January. 
As far as OAB is concerned, the heart of the issue
is universality. The three co-ops charge a standard
fee for first service on cows, regardless of how
far technicians travel to perform inseminations. 
Ashman said his mission is to "take back comments
to the minister on what you think good governance
is for the AI industry." 
Leslie Woodcock, who took submissions on changes
over the summer, said they revealed a deep schism
between the two sides. The OAB says costs would
rise if more inseminators run rural roads, while
those espousing deregulation say more competition
would reduce costs to breeders. 
Deregulators argue that 40 per cent of cows aren't
on milk recording, and these farmers represent a
market that isn't being served under the current
system. 
They also argue that the deregulated AI industries
in Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan remain viable
and are less costly. 
However, the OAB says that since Michigan
deregulated its AI industry the quality of service
declined and costs to producers rose. 
Farmers in remote areas would be the first to
suffer, the OAB argues, and more will resort to
herd bulls or will buy cheaper semen from bulls
with less genetic potential. 
Universality is only one issue. A strong concern in
western Ontario's big dairy belt is the viability
of the sire testing program. Farmers at the Barrie
meeting worried that records might not be kept
accurately. There were also feelings expressed that
Ontario might not be able to compete in world
markets because of outdated regulations. 
Dairy Farmers of Ontario vice-chairman Peter
Oosterhoff said if U.S. bulls are proved using the
Ontario recording system, profits will disappear
out of Ontario and won't be plowed back into the
industry. "If they make a minor contribution and
take the profits out of the industry, we don't
believe it is right."
On the other side of discussions is the Ontario
Cattlemen's Association, which proposes
deregulating the AI industry in less than three
years. It wants licensing of semen producing
businesses to be dropped when the AI Act is
amended, but that inseminators continue to be
licensed by the province for three years to provide
services in a specific area with no restrictions on
overlapping territories. 
Another major concern is corporate structure. OAB
members are non-share capital companies as required
by the AI Act regulations. Profits get plowed back
into the industry, and its members argue that in a
deregulated system, profits from sales of American
semen here will go out of the country. 
Deregulation supporters retort that new
inseminators would be crazy not to reinvest in
their business. And they maintain that the normal
evolution of the business and that a slight opening
of the business in the 1980s didn't lead to a
lowering of business ethics. 
"We've agreed there should be open access to
semen," said UBI general manager Paul Larmer. Fried
pointed out that the conflict is over accessibility
to service. 
There also seems to be common agreement that all
players contribute to milk recording and proofing
of bulls. 
But there is a difference over whether deregulation
will be good in the long run for farmers, while
others feel that in a price war not enough money
will be returned to the industry for genetic
evaluation and milk recording. 
At presstime, consultations in eastern Ontario
hadn't taken place 
Terry O'Gorman, Eastern Breeders Inc. president,
says new players in an unregulated industry would
"cherry pick" customers in densely cow-populated
areas. EBI would be left servicing customers in the
outlying regions of Hastings, Lanark and Renfrew
and they would face higher costs per service. He
refutes St. Jacobs' assertions that all would be
treated the same. 
Because these companies are funded by investors.
"They will look for a return on their dollar." 
With a reduced cow base, EBI will have to drop its
support of 4-H programs, and the joint
Ontario-Quebec dairy show.
O'Gorman doesn't see how deregulating the industry
would save OMAFRA money. "They haven't been
policing the act as it is now." 
After the first two meetings, there were reports of
a 50-50 split between keeping regulations as they
are and opening up the industry. Ashman was
optimistic that a compromise of some kind can be
reached. 
"The big units have said there are areas where
self-regulation might work, but they didn't spell
it out. There may be fertile ground there and I may
be plowing it." 
The time frame for new legislation depends on what
comes out of the consultations, Ashman said. "I am
hopeful that before the end of the calendar year I
will have talked to the minister and given him a
report." 

   

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