Canadian Consumers and Farmers ‘Shackled’ by Marketing Boards?

Aug 28, 2012

Quebec Think Tank Says Marketing Boards Hinder Competitiveness

The merit of agriculture marketing boards and supply management policies are reoccurring topics that come up in Canadian agriculture. Quebec based think tank – Montreal Economic Institute released a paper today entitled “The Negative Consequences of Agricultural Marketing Boards.” The think tank is hoping to spur change in the agriculture policy scene. The research paper analyzed case studies of other countries that have abolished their marketing boards – Australia and Switzerland for the elimination of their milk quotas and U.S. for their tobacco and peanut quotas. The paper argues that farmers and consumers are “shackled” under the current regime.

The paper says that Canadian consumers pay $3.9 billion more for certain agriculture products such as dairy and eggs because there’s no competition between agriculture producers to improve their productivity. "It's not to the advantage of the buyers of these products and it's not to the advantage of the producer either," says the report.

The author of the paper – Mario Dumais, suggests that Canada should eliminate membership for marketing boards and bring in a temporary tax to buy back farming quotas. Dumais concludes that the elimination and phasing out of marketing boards are necessary in order to restore the competitiveness of the agriculture and food sector.

"The marketing boards, whether or not they manage supply, miss the mark in fulfilling their main objectives and no longer serve any purpose. For true agricultural entrepreneurship open to global trade, we need to gradually eliminate quotas while compensating producers who hold these quotas, a transformation that served Australian producers well, among others," concludes Mr. Dumais.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.