Comment period for Ontario veal marketing board proposal ends in October

Monday, September 8, 2014

by JIM ALGIE

A 45-day, public comment period for regulations creating a long-awaited, Ontario marketing board for veal wraps up Oct. 6.

Ontario Farm Product Marketing Commission officials published a summary of the proposed regulation, Aug. 22, on the province’s regulatory registry.

Its purpose is to establish a governance framework and to shift payment of current, per head fees for calves from Beef Farmers of Ontario to the proposed veal board. The move to create a separate marketing board for veal calves apart from existing arrangements for beef cattle follows a vote by producers in March of 2013. Veal and dairy producers voted 88.3 per cent in favour of the proposal, judging by a statement at the time by then-Ontario Veal Association President Judy Dirksen.

New rules will grant specific powers to the new board, including: the power to make regulations, to license veal producers, set license fees and require information from producers. The board would “have authority to collect data and to use its funds for research, education, promotion . . . for the overall improvement of the veal industry in Ontario,” the registry entry says.

The province’s marketing commission “is encouraging the industry to provide advice on any of the topics listed in the posting,” its marketing analyst Marilyn Sewell said, Tuesday, responding to emailed questions.

Public comments will be taken into consideration by the commission in future recommendations to provincial cabinet, Sewell said. Timing of any commission recommendation will depend on the completion of essential, preliminary arrangements.

“When the commission has determined that all the necessary work has been accomplished, it will provide recommendations to the cabinet to establish a marketing board for veal,” Sewell said. “The commission will delegate appropriate marketing authorities to the new board upon its creation,” she said.

Currently, Reg. 54 under the Beef Cattle Marketing Act includes veal calves as cattle and authorizes the collection of fees by Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO). Proposed amendments to Reg. 54 would exempt producers of veal calves from payments to BFO and to the national research and promotion agency for beef cattle, the registry document says.

The Ontario Veal Association has operated since 1990 as a producer-run organization but without marketing board authority. Information on the association website estimates there are 450 veal farmers in the province with annual, farm gate sales worth about $110 million.

Veal is the meat of male dairy calves younger than about seven months of age. Milk-fed calves are raised to weights of between 200 and 250 kilograms. Grain-fed calves are raised to weights between 295 and 318 kg, a veal association fact sheet says. BF