Veal Producers Pitch for Marketing Board

Ontario veal farmers must now wait to learn whether their industry will be regulated by a marketing board.

The Ontario Veal Association made its pitch to the Farm Products Marketing Commission Friday, when the association also held its annual meeting in Stratford.

The provincial commission will review the proposal and decide whether to hold a vote.

Ontario veal producers agreed a year ago to pursue the creation of a marketing board for their industry.

Under the proposal, veal producers would have to be licensed and pay a licensing or checkoff fee to the marketing board. The OVA is also seeking an electronic auction for grain-fed veal and improved quality controls.

"What producers have told us it they need transparency on how price is arrived at," said Jennifer Haley, executive director of the Guelph-based OVA.

"What producers are saying together is we need a bigger stake in how decisions are made and we need marketing board powers to be able to take some of that control back," she said.

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