Our intervention is primarily focused on the concept. Having experimented in marketing agricultural products over the years, I would say that there is a great temptation for a producer—and I think it’s human nature—to try to get a better price than his fellow producer. According to my observations, producers who don’t know how to adopt a collective marketing approach constantly believe they are getting the best price. However, when they meet their friends at the bar and get more information, they find out that it wasn’t them who got the best price.
The collective approach allows the marketed supply to be grouped together. Whether they want to or not, the stakeholders on the other end of the equation, the buyers, team up and work in this fashion. The concentration ensures that today, buyers purchase very high volumes. The same thing applies to foreign contracts. The large exporters determine the price.
It is easy for a producer to believe that he has a value-added product that corners a niche market. In Quebec, we believe that maybe certain aspects of the Canadian Wheat Board need to be modernized. After all, this infrastructure has been in place for 70 years. If constant studies of this collective approach reveal that there are improvements to be made, they will be made using a collective approach.
In Quebec, we also experiment with the added value and distinct market approach. When it comes to agricultural products, the important thing is to identify consumer needs and meet them. As soon as the consumer requires a specific quality or characteristic for a specific product, the objective is to meet this demand. This is made possible through a collective approach.
We do business with marketing agencies in Quebec, for milk production, among others. Certain particularities apply in the case of organic milk, which meets a specific need. The collective approach allows us to buy and sell this milk through a system that allows us to maintain a consistent supply and prevent inventory shortages, and to ensure that volumes meet the needs of the market. This approach has always proven beneficial to producers as a whole. It guarantees revenues for the majority of farmers. There’s a proverb that says not to throw out the baby with the bath water. That provides a brief overview of the situation.
We have to be aware that once compliance with the Canadian Wheat Board becomes voluntary, it opens a huge breach in the system. A voluntary approach changes the effects and synergies of the collective approach as it relates to markets and pricing. Producers end up being in competition with one another, which means that prices are constantly negotiated lower. This would have much significance for Quebec farmers.