The above link will take you to a 2009 discussion paper
prepared in regard to Clover Farms. The document offers some insight in to the
concepts the writer intends to deploy. The document is somewhat dated and
requires review; however, the operational aspects of the document offer a
function perspective on the property.
The dairy and related manufacturing components have been challenged
by regulatory obstruction. In Canada at large, and specifically in British
Columbia, there is a Supply Management Marketing System in place. The administrators
of that system seem to hold a bias against efficient, at scale, integrated
operations; there seems rather to be an interest in subsidizing inefficiency by
constraining innovation, processing and production integration, and the natural
consolidation that would occur due to advancements in technology.
I spent a large portion of a year working toward regulatory
approval by attempting to negotiate firstly the provincial regulatory system
and secondly the federal parallel regulatory system. There is an organization called
the Farm Industry Review Board which oversees the Supply Managed industries, it
offers mediation and adjudication of disputes with the various “Marketing Boards”.
They employ a quasi – legal process
headed by a tribunal to review disputes; my attempts to gain support from
regulators ended in October 2011 when the FIRB ruled against me at appeal.
At the link above, there is another enterprise proposal called
West Fraser Agro, it was under that name that the interface with regulators took
place, my documents are there; you can review them to see my thought process in
the context of the regulatory regime and the regulator’s; you may judge where
reason lies.
A critique of the system would consume much print, it suffice
to say, almost all other products find their way to market absent any market intervention
with prosperity as the result. One might also point out that the average farm
size in British Columbia is under 200 head, there is a mass of literature to
support operations 10 times that size, or greater, as offering greater efficiency.
I submit the large farm size permits the optimization of operations so that
they are in better harmony with natural systems – a point hotly contested by
many of course, many that never let the facts get in the way of having the
wrong opinion. Another point worthy of contemplation, is that Skim Milk Power
on the world market is always a 1/3 or more less in price than the same product
in the Canadian Market. While I understand the farmers need to secure profit, I
am unsure they are really better off as individuals and the industry as a whole
is certainly less well-off under this scheme. The license to produce milk often
comprises 1/3 or more of farms net worth, an accumulated value of some 15
billion nationwide, that is a large amount of latent capital. I will try and
contain my ire here, however, the perverse rationale offered for the refusal to
permit my having regulatory support, was that an integrated operation would have
an advantage over incumbent processors because it would be absent
transportation costs; so the people of British Columbia should know that the
government of British Columbia is making them pay more for milk so that the
regulatory system forces a larger carbon foot print on the industry; if this
weren’t so tragic it would be laughable.
Given the events I encountered in accessing regulatory
support. the dairy component is held in abeyance until such time as circumstances
change. The other companion enterprises proposed
will find synergy with a large beef component or some other cropping regime.
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