Ontario Pork’s director of strategic management has been named as its general manager.
Ken Ovington was named Wednesday to the general manager’s job after over 10 years with the organization in various posts, focused on “business development, strategic planning, production expertise and business operations,” the provincial pork board said.
“Ken has been involved in every facet of Ontario Pork’s business operations, giving him an unparalleled ability to work with producers and industry stakeholders,” Ontario Pork chair Wilma Jeffray said in a release Wednesday.
Jeffray noted 2010 “will be a significant year in our history as the organization continues to work on the challenges facing our sector.”
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The Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission, in October last year, directed Ontario Pork to convert itself from a mandatory single-desk model to an optional marketing agency for the province’s hog farmers.
The province’s Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal is hearing appeals on the commission’s directive and has slapped a continuing stay on the commission’s order in the meantime.
If deregulation were to happen as proposed, Ontario Pork would still have authority to “represent, and collect license fees from, producers of all classes of pigs, including weaners and breeding stock” and to address pork industry issues on hog farmers’ behalf.
Ontario Pork would then only be able to review and approve direct-supply contracts for hogs if either a buyer or a seller asks, and would be able to market pigs for producers on a fee-for-service basis.
