Minister of Agriculture Provides Information on Ontario Hog Marketing. What Do Pork Producers Think of the Ruling?

I wondered how Ontario Pork Producers felt about the Minister's decision.

Joe

Minister Provides Clarity on Hog Marketing

Ontario Pork News Release

Guelph, May 14, 2010 – The Honourable Carol Mitchell, Minister of Agriculture, Food and

Rural Affairs, has concluded her ministerial review of an Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Appeal Tribunal ruling from February 2010 regarding pork marketing and by all accounts

supports an open marketing option for producers.

“We have been in favour of producers having choice in marketing and this decision gives us

the clarity we need to move forward,” says Wilma Jeffray, Chair of Ontario Pork. “The

submission that we prepared for the Minister’s review certainly gives us a head start in

fulfilling the requirements of the decision.

The organization has its first meeting with the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission

early next week where it will begin to work out the details of the decision. The Ontario Pork

Board will meet at the beginning of June to discuss next steps and assess the implementation

strategy.

Ontario Pork represents the 2,300 farmers who market hogs in the province in many areas,

including hog marketing, research, government representation, environmental issues,

consumer education and food quality assurance. The pork industry in Ontario accounts for

27,000 jobs, and it is estimated that total industry output from farm gate sales is worth $4

billion to the Ontario economy.

Here is a link to the OMAFRA website with the information on the Minister's Decision.

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/infores/releases/2010/051310a.htm