On the subject of support for the agriculture industry, when the time comes where farms will be shut down, year after year, because people can’t make a living from them anymore, choices will need to be made. Government action will need to be taken.
If we want to obtain the highest possible prices for farms on the market, we will need government intervention. If not, the agriculture industry and groups of producers will disappear. We would have to deal with production concentrations, which isn’t the outcome that we’re looking for. These models weren’t recommended in Quebec.
There are a variety of collective marketing structures. Recently, apple producers implemented a structure that is relatively unrestrictive, but which provides an overall, integrated picture of apple inventories.
It’s easy for a buyer to sow doubt in the heart of a producer and influence prices: he can say that inventory is too low, or too high and that since there are heavy volumes, a given price has to be paid, if not, the producer has to sell for less later.
However, in a collective structure, production volumes are posted, and information on volumes and reference prices are available. This information serves to provide indicators to the buyers. And that’s what we stand to lose.