The Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission has ordered
the chicken marketing board to reduce prices because it has been charging too
much for feed.
The commission has ordered the board to change its pricing
formula from a one-cent change in chicken prices for every $5 change in feed
costs to $5.81 per tonne.
The chicken board says that the commission order will likely
reduce prices for quota period A-120 (October-November), but said it can’t yet
determine how much the decrease will be. It needs to await information on the
weighted average prices of feed.
The chicken board has undertaken a comprehensive review of
its entire pricing formula, but the commission ordered it to make an immediate
change for feed costs.
It's a welcome sign that the commission is not an entirely useless, toothless entity.
Now I hope they can screw up their courage to settle the root issue of chicken shortages for the innovative niche-market processors.
How about scrapping plant-supply quotas and the ban on cross-border sales to Quebec, allowing a return of premiums, but reducing the formula-backed official minimum price of chicken by an amount equal to the weighted average of premiums?
