Supply Mgmt, Peak of the Market, CWB

[bgmb]

I know supply mgmt and Peak of the market (veggie cartel in MB) aren't totally the same as the CWB.

However why doesn't the government eliminate these institutions as well. They are at least as archaic and regressive for society as the CWB.

They limit my freedom even more than the CWB does. If I want to start a chicken barn I can't because the cost of quota is prohibitive.

Why is the government protecting a certain select group of what in many cases are large corporate farms with multimillion dollar net worths.

[malta]

2 reasons, Quebec, Colonies, if you are government don't mess with them.

[bucket]

That and since some of these are perishible food items it really makes no sense to oversupply.

However, it shouldn't be cost prohibitive to start. But maybe it because of all the health issues associated with these things makes it so.

[TOM4CWB]

bgmb,

Check it out. Supply Management IS PROVINCIAL Legislation. The Feds accomodate it... but the province MUST INSTALL the Supply Management systems.

BIG difference from CWB.

[rodb]

The reason quota is so high is by the percieved value by outsiders wanting in. The governments are trying to ratch down value in dairy by clawing back portions of quote on sales.

[burnt]

What/who are the "outsiders" to whom you refer? Here in the east it seems that the price is being nailed to the ceiling by those already "in".

Very, very little movement happening, only in tiny increments. Which is better for the smaller producers with 40 or 50 kg. since a .5 kg increase does them a lot more good than someone who has 400 or 500 kgs.

[dalek]

Nothing to do with outsiders wanting in and
everything to do with insiders. Even if you wanted in,
unless you manage to win the lottery and get in on
one of the new entrant programs which take you to the
head of the line for buying quota, with a 0.5 kg
maximum monthly purchase, an outsider can't even
get to the minimum quota holding to start shipping
milk.

[parsley]

Just to remind you: In order that the CWB met Trade and Commerce constitutional needs in 1947, each of the prairie provinces had to pass enabling legislation in order for the CWB to market DA grain.

They legislated.

Manitoba held out, and fought hardest against it, ...with Douglas salivating in the background, but finally passed the legislation. Pars

[bgmb]

Point is supply management is limiting my freedom as a farmer.

It is also providing a higher profit than a free market system would to established multimillionaire farms.

Another point is that milk is $2 per gallon in the states which is similar to junk food ie. pop. vs. 5 here.

However in Canada we are creating an incentive for people to drink less healthy options by having our milk and other dairy prices so high.

[bgmb]

T4,

Who puts the tariffs in place that make supply management work? the provinces?

I don't think so?

[burnt]

bgmb - a few thoughts on supply management from a calf/calf guy -

1) For a long time I fully supported supply management on the basis that it gave a fair return to those producers who are in it. There is nothing wrong with that.

However, while I still support SM in principle, I no longer can support the ugly reality that it has become today. It has devolved into a monster that its originators never intended - ie- a tool that has allowed one sector of agriculture to unfairly set the parameters for all the rest of us (land prices being the most obvious).

2)SM has made it difficult to start and operate smaller innovative dairy product enterprises. So while providing price and supply stability, it has shut out greater market possibilities in the form of specialty products.

3)If you are a farmer or rancher, you should be the last person in Canada to complain about the cost of a domestically produced foodstuff. Do you think that food should be available to the market at BELOW COST OF PRODUCTION just to make it affordable to everyone? (And anyway, food purchases are driven more by choice than affordability).

That is ludicrous! First and foremost, the price of food should be such that it keeps the producer in business! After that, it is a social problem.

You should also then be in favor of keeping the wheat board (since it reportedly keeps the price of wheat artificially low)so that consumers can afford to eat more bread, etc!

4)And by begging for prices that mirror American values, you are also asking that the Canadian dairy producer participates in the same, dismal level of poverty that his American cousin enjoys.

It is not a simple, single issue of keeping milk cheap.

[bgmb]

burnt,

I am not saying all food prices should be lower. I am saying let the market decide where they should be not the gov. or a gov agency.

I am saying these supply managed products are artificially high which encourages people to eat less healthy alternatives which is bad for society.

Point is why have we picked these select industries to favor at the expense of the rest of society?