The Milk Producer - November 2008 - (Page 32)

FallPolicy,32-38:New Template 10/24/2008 10:00 AM Page 1 POLICYUPDATE Haromized quota policy Proposal would put producers in five provinces under same rules hen it comes to quota policy, think of the P5 pool as one huge province. All dairy producers in five Eastern provinces would operate under the same rules—with a few exceptions—if their provincial marketing organizations adopt a proposed harmonized quota policy. P5 producer marketing organizations in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Ontario are now considering the proposal. As early as Aug. 1, 2009, it would set up a P5 pool quota committee to make decisions and eventually cap quota prices at the same level in all five provinces if implemented. Unveiled last month, the quota proposal grew out of a P5 producer forum held a year ago in Ontario. Delegates urged the P5 to develop a pool-wide governance model. The five provincial chairs agreed to develop a harmonized quota policy as a first step, and struck a committee that included themselves and the general managers of the five marketing organizations. Ontario producers got their first look at the policy proposal at the DFO Fall Policy conference midOctober. Delegates from dairy producer committees across the province strongly endorsed the policy direction, noted Peter Gould, DFO general manager. “Producer delegates raised a few points the P5 quota committee will have to consider (see sidebar),” he said. “But overall they were strongly supportive of the direction.” 32 | November 2008 | MilkPRODUCER W Gould presented the proposal during a conference session, and copies of that presentation were mailed to all Ontario producers a few days after the conference ended. Here are the highlights of the harmonized quota policy proposal: Individual quota policies • Each province would allocate 100 per cent of its share of P5 quota to individual producers issued in kilograms per day. • Total production flexibility would be 40 days, with 30 days of under-production credits and 10 days of over- production credits. Provinces that currently allow more than 10 days of production credits would “red circle” producers over 10 days. These producers would gradually work their way back to no more than 10. • Fall incentive days would be announced as far in advance as possible. Additional days could be considered under exceptional circumstances. • Producers would not be paid for Five provinces would act as one when making decisions such as production targets Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) held its annual Fall Policy Conference recently near Alliston, Ont. Discussions were closed to the public and media. Assistant editor Sharon Laidlaw and editor Bill Dimmick compiled reports in this section from post-conference interviews and discussion papers made public after the conference.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Milk Producer - November 2008

The Milk Producer - November 2008
Contents
Editor's Notes
DFO�Chair's Message
Dairy Update
DFC Promotion
Farm Finance
Forage Fallout
Issues Update
Research
Applied Science
Markets
New 'N' Noted
Back Forty

The Milk Producer - November 2008