I am unaware of any supply management systems out there that do not create unintended consequences.
In the case of the Canadian Wheat Board, the idea of a farmer supplying a bakery directly was not allowed. If you produced a higher quality grain, you had no control over how it could be marketed and odds are could not not get what the grain should be worth.
The CWB has also inhibited innovation and entrepreneurial activity by farmers.
In BC we still have a number of supply management boards
- The Egg Marketing Board
- BC Milk Producers
- BC Chicken Marketing Board
- BC Hog Marketing Commission
- BC Turkey Marketing Board
The primary impacts of these supply management boards are:
- Increased cost of food for the public, with the impact being hardest on the poorest people
- Creates major barriers to entry for new farmers
- Slows innovation
- No incentives to try anything new
When the idea of supply management came about, a much large portion of the population in Canada was directly involved with farming. We now have a tiny potion of the national population involved with farming and we expect the general public to provide them with a subsidy to be able to survive
2 comments:
Just out of curiosity how many if any barrels come out of the "rest of BC" outside the Northeast that is not controlled by the CWB. I always there was production in Ontario outside of board control but I have known what in BC is outside.
The Peace Country produces 95% of BC's wheat and 99.9% of the hard wheat.
This means the rest of BC produces a total of 1,800,000 bushels of wheat which is less than 40,000 acres of land in wheat
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