Chicken marketing board finds ways to let small producers grow

Thursday, July 30, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

Small-scale farmers will soon be able to produce 600 to 3,000 birds annually without having to buy quota as part of Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO) new licensed-based Artisanal Chicken program.

The new program is one of a number introduced by CFO Tuesday. They’re designed to distribute the growth in Ontario’s production allocation from Chicken Farmers of Canada and meet consumer needs. The other programs are:

• Local Niche Market program. Farmers interested in supplying larger niche or regional markets can grow 6,000 or more chickens a year. But they’ll need to have quota and apply for this program. More details are being released later.
• Business Development program. It will assign processing rights to “ideas that create growth platforms and accelerate growth for chicken,” the CFO website says. More details are being released later.
• The Small Flock program is being renamed the Family Food program and farmers will still be able to grow 300 birds annually for their own consumption or farm-gate sales. The rules for the family food program will be the same as the previous small flock program.
• CFO is also planning to enhance and update its new entrant program. Details on this program will also be released later. 

The new programs meet the needs of many new and emerging consumer groups “who are demanding new ways to buy chicken,” says Michael Edmonds, CFO’s communications and government relations director.

Farmers in the artisanal program won’t have to buy quota but they are being charged a 20-cent per chick fee for their annual production licence. Other fees include a CFO levy of 3.6 cents per chick plus a Chicken Farmers of Canada levy of 1.2 cents per chick.

There are also overproduction penalties of $1 per bird for production above four per cent. CFO could also revoke a farmer’s licence if the person overproduces chicken. 

Another stipulation in the program is farmers must agree to sell their production at or above the minimum live price set by regulation in Ontario. The base price is currently at $1.53 per kilogram for the A-131 quota period (June 14 to August 8). The introduction of a program allowing farmers to grow 600 to 3,000 birds a year without holding quota is good news for several groups that were fighting over a number of years to get the production number increased for non-quota holders. 

One farmer in favour of the increase is Sean McGivern, director and past president of Practical Farmers of Ontario. The group had planned to appeal CFO’s previous decisions to not increase the production number to the Ontario Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal. But now the group won’t be launching that appeal.

McGivern says a CFO official called him Tuesday afternoon to tell him about the new artisanal chicken program just before the organization publicly released information about it “because of all the work I’ve done on this for the last 10 years.”

The program “has the potential to be a good program,” he says. But he’s concerned small scale farmers will have difficulty meeting the CFO requirement to comply with the organization’s on-farm food safety assurance and animal care programs.

As part of the approval process, CFO officials will inspect applicants’ farms to ensure they meet the organization’s on-farm food safety and animal care requirements.

McGivern says, “if you’re a person with a few thousand chickens, you’re not going to have special boots and overalls and everything to wear in the chicken coop” after doing other jobs on the farm.

Glenn Black, president of Small Flock Poultry Farmers of Canada, agrees with McGivern it will be hard for small farmers to meet the on-farm food safety requirements.

Black says Small Flock Poultry Farmers can develop a step-by-step process for small famers to help them complete the food safety forms. 

Unlike Practical Farmers, which is ditching its appeal, Black says he intends to continue challenging CFO.  While Black is happy the marketing board has boosted the number of chickens non-quota holders can produce, “this is just one of many dozens of issues for supply management that needs to be dramatically improved.”

Edmonds says applications for the 2016 artisanal chicken program are being accepted on a first come, first serve basis until Sept. 4. The applications are reviewed and approved by the CFO board.

There are more than 15,000 registered small flock growers currently raising up to 300 birds a year. Edmonds says they don’t know how many of them will apply for the artisanal program.

Black says about 100 farmers will likely apply initially. “There is a handful of people who are already at the 300-bird limit. They already have the business and the customers to immediately start ramping up.”

Black has already applied for the program. He says he is aiming to supply his local Manitoulin Island market. 

“The biggest handicap that we are under is there is no local abattoir that does poultry,” he says, noting the closest poultry abattoir to him is in Sudbury, a three-hour drive one-way. “When I was looking at the 300-bird limit, (having the abattoir in Sudbury) would double the price of the poultry.”

As for whether the program will enable small farmers to make a living growing chicken through the artisanal program, Black says “we’ll see.”

Edmonds says there isn’t a specific number of farmers that will be accepted into the program. However, five per cent of the Ontario’s total annual allocated growth for the previous year has been allotted for the program. The 2016 program will be based on the growth for this year. Edmonds says this year’s total growth will be known towards the end of the year. BF