Bill Mailloux
Jim Knisley
Features Producers Profiles Business/Policy Canada Poultry Production Production Profiles SustainabilityBetter, but not bigger, at an Amherstburg farm
Bill Mailloux sits in the sunroom of his farmhouse and quietly lays out the philosophy that has the family farm entering its sixth and seventh generation. “Better, not bigger,” he says.
The farm outside of Amherstburg, Ontario, south of Windsor, is a true family operation that boasts a manageable mix of grain and turkeys with a seed business added on. Bill is a partner in the operation with his cousin Leonard, who together bought out their fathers in the late 1990s. This is also a family tradition – as Bill’s father Eugene and his uncle were partners, and it is continuing with Bill’s son Josh and cousin Chad, who are fully engaged in the day-to-day operations and planning.
Bill has also followed another family tradition and taken a leadership role as vice-chair of the Turkey Farmers of Canada. His father was instrumental in the founding of supply management for turkeys and was chair of the agency in 1976.
Working with his father and listening to the stories and history provided Bill with an insight and depth of understanding of supply management that is hard to match. For example, his father told him of an episode prior to supply management when a processing company offered his father $0.19 cents a pound for his turkeys. That didn’t seem reasonable, so the father contacted other companies and asked about prices, and was told $0.19 cents a pound. One day a man in a suit drove out to the farm, pulled into the farmyard in his Cadillac and offered to buy the turkeys. The price was the same.
Eugene decided to have the birds custom killed and stored, then sold them the next spring for $0.59 cents a pound.
Eugene also passed along a big book that contained the record of the cross-country hearings that preceded supply management. It drove home the recognition that the farmers who originated supply management faced real and seemingly insurmountable challenges. They overcame the issues by working together, compromising when necessary and recognizing that strict adherence to personal or provincial self-interest could end the initiative and doom them all.
Bill said that today’s challenges are real and significant. For example, the continuing consolidation at the processor and retail levels presents a challenge. But “processors are our partners and we have to recognize their challenges,” he said. There are also challenges at the retail level, not the least of which is the continued attention paid to production practices on the farm.
Consumers need to know that we’re looking after welfare and that we’re audited to ensure we meet standards, he said. But that isn’t a story that’s told very often. He added, “poor operators don’t belong in our business,” because that not only affects those operators but also can hurt everyone else.
But these challenges, significant as they are, pale in comparison to those faced a generation ago. Bill said he learned that sometimes everyone has to compromise and give a little to gain or maintain a lot. “It’s a privilege to have what we have.”
Looking to the future, he sees a huge challenge looming that will challenge not just farmers, but also he world as a whole: feeding the world.
Farmers, scientists, politicians and agriculture companies are going to have to meet that challenge. What this means is that continued research into new and better crops, better farm management, continued livestock improvement and more co-operation throughout the food chain will be needed. It will also require co-operation on an international scale, because confrontation over food is not beneficial to anyone.
Bill also sees a real opportunity for turkey as a healthy food. “It is an opportunity we really need to tap into. We can increase the market by focusing on turkey as healthy,” he said.
This plays out on his own farm with his “better, not bigger,” philosophy.
The farm produces 6,000 poults four times a year and hasn’t increased its quota holdings for years, but by adopting and adapting new production techniques and technologies, it has dramatically improved its productivity. They continue to use barns first built in the 1950s, but the technology inside is up to date, said Bill. “We have no plans to expand, but continue to upgrade,” he said.
Careful management and some good fortune has also made for birds with few, if any, disease challenges, meaning medication hasn’t been needed in years.
The grain side of the farm is 850 acres of wheat, corn and soybean production that hasn’t changed in years and he said that there is no temptation to get bigger. As to the recent run-up in land values and quota values, Bill said that he and everyone else are aware of it, but that it has no effect on their own farm. Land and quota values are important only if you are buying or selling. For a multigenerational farm operating under a better, not bigger, philosophy, capital values are interesting but not that important.
Because it is a family farm in the truest sense of the phrase, Bill said they might be “a little more cautious.” For example, although Bill is just 51 years old and Leonard 52, there is a succession plan in place. “This is the smartest thing I ever did. Everyone should have one,” he said, as it provides a lot of peace of mind.
Bill says that he still thoroughly enjoys farming, even though it has changed quite a bit over the decades with the introduction of new equipment and technology. “It used to be much more physical.”
Farming can also present a variety of challenges from many different directions including dealing with whatever Mother Nature decides to throw at you. “You learn to deal with the weather,” he said. There are also the mechanical breakdowns and the unexpected loss of electricity.
“You learn to fix those things. It’s rewarding when you can fix something.”
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