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Calling all Canadians !!!!!!! Please read.

A

Anonymous

Guest
per said:
HAY MAKER said:
*****************************************************


I can't remember are x's hugs or kisses?

Either Old Haymakers is leaving kisses for his Canadian French girlfriend- or he's lining out a defense for the Texas football team :wink: :p :lol:
 

burnt

Well-known member
Kato said:
Agriculture has gotten to the point that the final cost of food is only high enough to support some but not all links in the chain between the field and the kitchen.

The question is what goes? Who is the middleman that steps back out of the picture?

The big corporations view us as the middlemen that must go. They want to control the whole process from the birth of the animal to the final product, and they are doing it by forcing vertical integration wherever possible. Ask an American poultry producer about that, and how much fun that is.

The other option is for us to consider the processors as the middlemen and go straight to the consumer. This is big business's worst nightmare, and you better believe they will use all their clout and resources to highjack that process wherever possible. They have friends in high places, and they will use them.

I think we're at a turning point, and it's up to us which way it goes in the future. As long as our governments keep doing what they can to keep food cheap, and to keep it as a low priority item, we will continue to be squeezed out until something gives.

This strikes me as being one on the most salient posts ever on the issue of contemporary, large-scale food production. We are well on the way to eliminating the small, independent food producer.

The rate of attrition is increasing alarmingly fast not only locally, but it appears to be the case all over North America.

When the smaller but financially more stable producers (and their stubborn independence) are out of the way, the processors can then gain control of the mega-scale producers by manipulating commodity values.

They will be able to set input prices to their customers and then squeeze them on the marketing side to the point where the producers end up so indebted to them that the processor takes them over as the only remaining option.

If you think this could not happen, well, there have been plenty of examples of this on a smaller scale when feed mills have over-extended credit to a farmer and ended up taking the farm over to meet the financial obligation.

Sure would be nice to believe that there was no intent to do so in the first place . . .
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
Don't you think we may have inadvertyantly cut our own throats on this issue as we all drank the economics of scale cool aid. Think about it-we've all been hearing and believing the mantra that if we ran X number of cows or farmed Y acres of corn our problems would magically disappear and profitability and sustainability would be entrenched. Lets face it with the size of operation most of us run now a days we'd have to become much like the big boys to effectively market all our production. we can all get the warm fuzzies about selling a few sides of beef or whatever but to market all our production at a profitable margin we'd have to contract our operations instead of expanding them. Are there any of us out there with enough balls to sell of some land or cattle to finance a foray into self marketing. I am very good friends with one of the most successful entrepeneurs in marketing natural beef, chicken, lamb and pork in Canada-the amount of capital both fiscal and human that they have poured into their endeavours is more than most could deal with. Until then were going to need a few evil corporations to keep the ball rolling-by all means work on your dreams but never fail to realize what it takes to make the dream happen.
 

burnt

Well-known member
Well said, Northern. On every point.

I have learned from experience that working on a small scale is extremely challenging and takes more than I want to put into it anymore.
 

RobertMac

Well-known member
It's amazing how many people realize there is a hole in the boat ONLY after they are standing in water...but, welcome aboard!!!!

BC, you are wrong that our countries can't feed themselves...it is "at what price". Why are the packers and national cattle orgs telling producers they need export markets to pay profitable live cattle prices?

Grassfarmer, you are exactly right...the companies doing the importing are the same ones that are processing the majority of food in our countries...it's a shell game until we have COOL.

As for self marketing your product, understand that government regulations will be the knife at your throat and large food corporations is the hand on that knife. It is inevitable suicide to try to compete against large food corporation by offering the same product they are selling...you must offer a verifiable difference.

Ben Roberts went over all this years ago, but few heeded his warnings!
 

Broke Cowboy

Well-known member
RobertMac said:
It's amazing how many people realize there is a hole in the boat ONLY after they are standing in water...but, welcome aboard!!!!

BC, you are wrong that our countries can't feed themselves...it is "at what price". Why are the packers and national cattle orgs telling producers they need export markets to pay profitable live cattle prices?

Grassfarmer, you are exactly right...the companies doing the importing are the same ones that are processing the majority of food in our countries...it's a shell game until we have COOL.

As for self marketing your product, understand that government regulations will be the knife at your throat and large food corporations is the hand on that knife. It is inevitable suicide to try to compete against large food corporation by offering the same product they are selling...you must offer a verifiable difference.

Ben Roberts went over all this years ago, but few heeded his warnings!

If your country closed its doors tomorrow of any additional food imports - your peopole would grow very hungry before the first expanded crops came in. This would include using any emergency stocks the feds have in the back room.

As to the rest of your questions and comments - can't help yopu - too busy trying to enjoy the wonders of the place I am presently living

BC
 

RobertMac

Well-known member
Broke Cowboy said:
RobertMac said:
It's amazing how many people realize there is a hole in the boat ONLY after they are standing in water...but, welcome aboard!!!!

BC, you are wrong that our countries can't feed themselves...it is "at what price". Why are the packers and national cattle orgs telling producers they need export markets to pay profitable live cattle prices?

Grassfarmer, you are exactly right...the companies doing the importing are the same ones that are processing the majority of food in our countries...it's a shell game until we have COOL.

As for self marketing your product, understand that government regulations will be the knife at your throat and large food corporations is the hand on that knife. It is inevitable suicide to try to compete against large food corporation by offering the same product they are selling...you must offer a verifiable difference.

Ben Roberts went over all this years ago, but few heeded his warnings!

If your country closed its doors tomorrow of any additional food imports - your peopole would grow very hungry before the first expanded crops came in. This would include using any emergency stocks the feds have in the back room.

As to the rest of your questions and comments - can't help yopu - too busy trying to enjoy the wonders of the place I am presently living

BC
BC, the USA cattle herd isn't shrinking because there isn't the land to raise them...it's shrinking because it isn't profitable for the producers raising them. It's the infrastructure that is being dismantled by global corporations importing the cheapest products. I agree we are in a worrisome situation.

BC said:
As to the rest of your questions and comments - can't help you - too busy trying to enjoy the wonders of the place I am presently living
Do you want your children and grandchildren to share your enjoyment?
 

Tex

Well-known member
This is a long article but tells the same tale y'all are expressing here:

Should Jamaica's fish farmers be defended?


Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Jamaica's fish farmers have lost market share over the past 18 months with
locally produced frozen tilapia fillets being replaced by imported product,
mainly from China, which, after minimal duties, is around half the price of the
comparable domestic product. While importers argue that the market is divided
into two distinct segments, one for inexpensive imported frozen fillets, the
other for locally produced fresh fillets which can be sold at a premium,
Jamaican farmers have had to slash headcount and virtually cease processing to
focus on the wholesale farm gate market.

Donovan Bunting, the 2004 Observer Business Leader Awards nominee known
affectionately as "Donnie", started his Longville Park Farms outside Old
Harbour, St Catherine in 1974 and claims to be Jamaica's longest standing
tilapia farmer. Bunting recently cut staff from 60 to 20 full time employees and
shuttered his processing operation to focus exclusively on wholesale production.
Bunting's customers for frozen fillets, which once included SuperClubs Resorts
and SuperPlus supermarkets, began sourcing frozen fillets from importers, he
said. He alluded to the choice politicians are forced to make between creating
or preserving jobs, and guaranteeing cheap food for consumers. He acknowledged
that local processed fish would inevitably be more expensive than product
imported from a country like China, which benefits from economies of scale,
highly productive labour, and a high degree of government intervention
throughout the economy, but argued that the cost of food is irrelevant for a
Jamaican who doesn't have an income.

Donnie Bunting recently eliminated his tilapia fillet processing operation,
cutting staff from 60 to 20, to focus on the local wholesale market.

Similarly, Jamaica's number one tilapia producer, Jamaica Broilers Group (JBG),
which was exporting 100,000 pounds of frozen fillets per week at its peak,
ceased processing operations and suspended its contract farming arrangement with
off-site producers altogether some 18 months ago to begin importing frozen
fillets to retain customers unwilling to take price increases. While Bunting
pointed to importers like JBG, National Meats, Rainforest Seafoods and the Hart
family's Caribbean Producers Group (CPG) as the private sector companies
responsible for making locally produced frozen fillets unviable, importers
reason that under existing conditions, there is no way the locally produced
productive can be competitive.

According to Rainforest CEO Brian Jardim, the economics do not favour the frozen
Jamaican product. "When I went to Donnie's facility, there were approximately
five or six people processing fish; we buy a lot from Guyana where a plant may
have 300 people; in China it may have 5,000," he said, noting the difference in
scale of operations that compete in the global market. "The four or five of us
who bring tilapia in, we're coming at it from all sides," said Jardim, noting
that China produces 90 per cent of the frozen tilapia in the world, and commands
90 per cent of the US market. "They can produce fillets at less than anywhere in
the region," he said. Apart from China, Rainforest imports seafood from Belize,
Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad, Peru, Chile, the US, Canada, Norway, Spain,
Thailand, and Panama. The company exports primarily to the Caricom region,
including countries like Grand Cayman, Haiti, Antigua, St Lucia, Dominica, St
Vincent, Barbados, and Grenada.

Despite the pre-eminence of China in the global tilapia market, Jardim said
locally grown fresh fillets have a promising future, both for the domestic
market where upscale hotels and supermarkets value the fresh factor; as well as
for export markets like the US and Europe where excess air cargo capacity can
competitively deliver fresh fillets on ice. Jardim, who is planning to open a
$500-million processing plant on Slipe Road in Kingston next year, is placing
his bets on value-added products which will rely heavily on tilapia and shrimp
produced locally.

JBG chairman Robert Levy, who helped foster the growth of Jamaica's fish farming
industry, suggested the future of the sector sits firmly in government hands.
"If they want to revive the tilapia industry, then the Government has to realise
that local producers, who are perfectly capable of meeting the hotel and
supermarket demand in terms of quality and quantity, have to be defended," he
argued.

While Levy stopped short of detailing precisely what defence mechanism he saw
fit for the Government to implement, he acknowledged that Jamaica is in no
position to match subsidies assumed to be reflected in the cost of imported
tilapia.

"Eight to 10 years ago we were supplying every Jamaican hotel and supermarket,"
Levy said, adding that over the last 18 months the company saw increases in the
cost of inputs with large overseas customers simultaneously being offered more
competitive pricing on product from China. US grocers Winn-Dixie and Publix, and
UK-based Tesco, once important customers for the JBG's Jamaican frozen fillets,
were unwilling to take price increases, Levy said. Levy took issue with the
historical policy conflict that prioritises inexpensive food over jobs: "Can a
country survive on that premise? No other country does that."

Minister of agriculture and fisheries Christopher Tufton, meanwhile, echoed a
similar sentiment. "There has to be a policy framework which encourages local
production," said Tufton. "The truth is, we haven't done enough of it, even
where we have the flexibility to do so under existing World Trade Organization
(WTO) rules," Tufton said. "Where we can exercise our options under WTO to give
our farmers an opportunity to produce, whether it's fish farmers or any other
area, we should." Past administrations, he noted, granted licences to importers
where perhaps they shouldn't have so readily. "There's always a challenge to
governments like ours where resources are scarce. There's always pressure to
make a decision in support of cheaper foods. The problem is, more often than
not, cheaper foods from developing markets are subsidised, and these foods are
dumped on small, vulnerable states like Jamaica, and that retards the capacity
of the local sector to compete. We have, in the past, pursued a policy that
discriminates against local production. In reversing that trend, my outlook is
that we can take advantage of existing WTO rules to give our farmers added
protection," he said, noting that he is slated to meet with both farmers and
importers at an unspecified date.

Tufton cited health and safety as another concern related to imported foods.
"That's something we've had difficulty ascertaining or getting verified," he
said, pointing out that no new import licenses have been granted since a
container of tilapia was seized at the port earlier this year over
technicalities surrounding its country of origin. Tufton pointed out that the
local market is a US$20-million industry and that the ministry will work with
the farmers to give them as much support as possible. He noted that other issues
which needed to be addressed included ascertaining the size of the market, the
issue of whether the frozen fillet market and the fresh market are distinct or
not, as well as the local cost of production, where energy costs are an
important consideration.

Rainforest Seafoods, which is the largest seafood importer and exporter in the
Caribbean, does not have an issue where safety is concerned because it sources
only from farms certified through the Global Aquaculture Alliance and the
Aquaculture Certification Council, and those that adhere to stringent European
Union standards, said its CEO. Nonetheless, Jardim reiterated his commitment to
supporting local fish farmers, noting that an array of processed products, from
deboned whole fish to spiced fillets and shrimp would be produced at the
company's Slipe Road plant starting in 2010.

Jardim said red tilapia raised in salt water had an especially strong market
acceptance and that Rainforest would be buying both fresh water and salt water
tilapia from local farmers in great quantities once the Kingston plant is
operational and ramps up production. Bunting countered, meanwhile, that raising
tilapia in salt water, which is not its natural environment, is disadvantageous
on two counts, namely the feed-to-protein conversion is less efficient due to
the fish's struggle to fight off the osmosis caused by salt water, and tilapia
is more vulnerable to parasites in salt water which affects the quality of the
meat.

JBG CEO Christopher Levy noted the difference in maturity of Jamaica's poultry
industry, which is around 50 years old, compared to the fish farming industry,
which has existed for only three decades. He attributed the protection of
poultry to this maturity, as well as its generally accepted role in ensuring
food security, not just in Jamaica, where imported chicken attracts a duty of
240 per cent, but in developed countries like the US where the industry is well
protected against foreign competition. The duty on imported tilapia meanwhile,
is negligible, he said. He went on to point out other differences that made
defending Jamaica's fish farming industry complex. "A chicken is a chicken, fish
are varied.you can't just say we're not going to allow in any other fish.
However, I do think it is very important for the Government to create the space
for industry to grow - governments create the space, and the private sector
fills it."

While the JBG CEO also declined to suggest any specific non-tariff barriers that
could be imposed to help defend national tilapia farmers, he alluded to sanitary
and phytosanitary measures used to protect the poultry industry in the US, as
well as different fuel grade ethanol standards the EU imposes to protect bloc
producers as examples. "A country and a government has to decide what they want.
if the government decides that this is an industry that it wants to defend,
there's no doubt that there's a mechanism they can use," said Levy. "Where
there's a will there's a way." The Government has to be thoughtful however, Levy
added, noting that any policy decision will have long-term consequences, as was
the case when Jamaica saw the demise of its dairy industry following milk powder
imports.

"There's a distinct difference between free trade and fair trade," he added.
"The term free trade is bantered about freely - fair trade is more complicated.
There's no doubt that every country has to defend its agriculture industry and
create rural jobs, especially in Jamaica. We have a workforce that is rural,
cane is out of play, bauxite has slowed down. the government has to create the
space for agriculture; we used to grow all the rice we consumed, we produced all
the milk we needed, then the policy changed, cheap milk powder was available
from New Zealand.then it became difficult for us to access milk powder, and the
dairy industry is just rebounding now. These policies in agriculture have
long-term effects. When it comes to agriculture, the discussions have to be very
unemotional - there's more at play than the kind of worldview you have," he
said.

JBG continues to produce tilapia on its two farms, which have 100 acres of pond
each. It no longer exports tilapia and its domestic production, sold to a
variety of small-to-medium sized distributors at its farm gates, is down some 30
per cent, Levy said. The contract farmers, which together supplied JBG from a
combined total of an additional 100 acres of pond area at the height of
production, are now on their own. JBG began importing frozen tilapia fillets to
complement its position in the local market," he added. "If the Government wants
a policy of importation of food, we're a food company and we have to be in that
play," said Levy. "It's a balance." Levy said JBG definitely sees two distinct
markets, for frozen and fresh tilapia, but noted there's enough capacity in
Jamaica to supply both segments. Whether the company sources everything locally
or continues importing to supplement local production, it comes down to the
Government's will, he said. "The Government has to be thoughtful; it can't
implement a knee-jerk policy."

Bunting, meanwhile, has diversified his operation and has been producing lamb
for the past three years to complement his wholesale fish operation. Short of
any structural change that could make local frozen fillets more competitive in
the domestic market, both CBG's CEO and the founder of Longville Park Farms
voiced enthusiasm about the prospect of selling wholesale tilapia to Rainforest
Seafoods to let the distributor do the processing at its new plant in Kingston,
once it's in operation.

In the meantime, Jardim's message to fish farmers is, "hang in there, we're
coming". Rainforest expects to break ground on the construction of its Slipe
Road processing facility by October, and it is currently exploring financing
options to develop the project having already secured the land. In a statement
responding to the company's reaction to the possibility of non-tarriff barriers
being imposed on imported tilapia, Rainforest general manager Ernest Grant
wrote, "We are in full support of the initiatives recently announced by Minister
of Agriculture and Fisheries, Dr Hon Christopher Tufton regarding the
regulations which are intended to regularise and provide sustainability to the
local supply of the marine life in our territorial waters. Rainforest Seafoods
will be making a significant investment in a processing plant at Slipe Road in
Kingston which will provide support to the local Tilapia farmers. The growing,
harvesting and processing of Tilapia in Jamaica can allow for the development of
a lucrative export market to be sustained for fresh fillets as well as value
added fillets (breaded jerk flavoured fillets, for example) to become the base
of support for the local farmers. This market is distinctly different to that
supplied by the low-cost frozen tilapia fillets from Asian sources and should be
encouraged and supported by allowing duty-free concessions or waivers to
investors willing to enter the market. With regards to non-tariff barriers to
restrict the importing of frozen tilapia fillets, which indirectly compete with
locally grown product, this requires serious thought. There can be repercussions
to trade when the local market grows sufficiently to consider expansion of the
export market. There are other countries in the region producing tilapia, namely
Belize, Costa Rica and Guyana, which have found lucrative export markets for
their fresh tilapia fillets without imposing restrictive non-tariff barriers. If
the non-tariff barriers will result in an increase in the price of the frozen
tilapia fillets to the consumers, there will undoubtedly be a shift in demand to
other economically priced fillets which can be sourced from either regional or
extra-regional sources offering comparable taste and texture. This will become
true especially as it relates to supplying economical protein options to the
all-Inclusive hotels, the major share of the market, which are always in search
of good quality, low-priced product. Other options should be considered which
will provide the competitive advantage to the local producers."

One compelling argument for the defence of Jamaica's fish farming industry goes
hand-in-hand with efforts to preserve the country's coastal fisheries, according
to CPG CEO Mark Hart. "If the fisheries division was more vigilant of the size
of fish harvested from our coastal waters, that would force the market towards
increasing our farm production," said Hart, noting the lack of regulation was
really only having the effect of depleting the resource more and more each year.
"They aren't serious about protecting our resource," he contended. Bunting
voiced similar concern over the banning of spear fishing, which he opined was a
misguided effort. Bunting and Hart concurred in that the right approach would be
to set size restrictions to coastal fish harvests, and use nimble, random
enforcement to get the message out to fishermen.

Hart described CPG as one of the founders of the local fish farming industry,
and said the company maintained an interest in seeing its success despite being
an importer of frozen tilapia fillets, among a wide variety of other products,
for the past several years. Hart also made mention of the demanding nature of
the tourism industry and the importance of bringing domestic farmed fish up to
the highest standards. "A hotel views a piece of fish, or a bottle of wine, or
even a bunch of grapes, as a raw material, so it's vital for them to have proper
inputs, that they deem to be necessary to put out the very best product," he
said, adding, "at the end of the day that's what's going to add value to the
industry and to the country in earning forign exchange. Having said that, what
we need to do is encourage in a manageable way to better production locally, not
only in quality, but being able to have the tourism industry consider local
product, not just for quality but for consistency of supply.


POST A COMMENT


COMMENTS (13)

Rob
7/29/2009 2:51 AM

Some year ago I worked in the tilapia farming industry in Jamaica. At that time
feed costs represented around fifty percent of total costs in the production of
the whole fish product. I suspect the cost structure has changed little since
then. Generally, tilapia feed contains between twenty to thirty percent crude
protein, which is by far the costliest component. Yet, hovering over each pond
at night, in a low to medium intensity system, are kilograms of high protein
fish food. Best of all its free, except for the minimal cost for electricity to
zap these insects into the waiting mouths of the fish below. We need to be
thinking outside the square. Also, the industry is much too focused on the one
species. Look to other countries for a new approach. The Australian tuna farming
industry alone is worth US$ 300 mil per yr. Staying with freshwater, what about
crayfish, i.e. crawdads, same infrastructure requirements as tilapia, market in
US is familiar with the product, warmer temperatures than the main producing
areas in the southern US means we can supply product to market when they can't.
Not to mention the local hotel market.

tim
7/29/2009 5:24 AM

The fish industry should be protected from the importation of cheap frozen fish.

How? Using creative and inovative stragies to educate the consumers and and also
the government could help the farmer reduces his overhead cost. The government
should put mor duties on fish being imported so as to make the desicion for the
importer very difficult to not buy from the local pool.
Save this industry. Save our jobs.

Mike Braith
7/29/2009 7:43 AM

The Jamaican consumer should be protected from cheap Chinese food imports not
because of any danger to the economy per se, but because of the dangers to the
health of the local consumer.

Chinese food preparation standards still leave much to be desired. We have to be
careful what foods we import for consumption. What is cheapest isn't always best
for consumption.
arawak

7/29/2009 8:23 AM

Of course they should be defended. A country should always have the option to
feed itself and not depend entirely on imports to do so. Cheap imports are
undermining Jamaica's enterprenerial skills. After Jamaica's fledgling fish
industry fails, the cheap imports will no longer be cheap. They will raise the
price. Every sensible government protects their own. Jamaica should too.

Don Chung
7/29/2009 8:41 AM

The government should do whatever it can to restrict imports and keep the
industry viable. The alternative is to use the ponds to produce microalgae which
are high in lipid content which can be extracted to produce biodeisel and
biofuels as well as organic ferilizer. This alternative is the recently
announced objective of a US$600Million investment by Exxon. On a per acre basis
microalgae outstrips any other form of plant life for conversion to biomass and
energy, and the Japanese have also used them to build a billion dollar industry
in biopharmaceuticals and nutritional products. What is even more attractive for
Jamaican farmers is that it is not subject to praedial larceny since in it's
natural state the nutritional value is not released and the oil content is not
marketable. Time for Jamaica to take a grand leap to the forefront of
technology.

I left a few comments in the end of the article.

Tex
 

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