Stick to the limits, Tribunal orders

Monday, November 29, 2010

by KRISTIAN PARTINGTON

The Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal has denied a chicken producer’s appeal for relief from an industry policy that limits the number of birds he can grow to replace lost quota.

According to the Nov. 16 tribunal decision, Victor Osztrovics, of Burford, lost 3,000 chickens — nearly a fifth of his crop — when temperature rose sharply from -28C to 10C overnight early in 2009.

The loss meant he was 12,783 kg under his allowed quota for that eight-week quota period – a situation referred to in the industry as “undermarketing.”

He first applied to the Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO), which governs chicken production in Ontario, for the opportunity grow additional birds to offset his losses.

The CFO’s quota guidelines permit producers to grow up to 10 per cent above their quota allocation over two quota periods following a loss. Osztrovics applied for additional relief because his losses were nearly double that. CFO rejected the application.

The marketing organization declined to comment on the case. Mary Fearon, CFO’s communications manager, says the organization doesn’t comment on hearings. “We just don’t want to get into a public conversation about anything specific to a tribunal hearing,” she says.

Osztrovics argued before the tribunal that extreme weather caused his loss and despite his best efforts, he could not alleviate the pressure on his crop.

Noting “probably more than any other businesses, farmers are particularly at the mercy of the weather,” the three-member panel adjudicating the tribunal appeal determined that it was “not satisfied that there was anything truly unique and exceptional about the weather event that resulted in the barn conditions that caused Victor's crop loss.”

The decision also called exemptions an “exception rather than the rule” in quota-based regulatory systems. “Victor must satisfy (the tribunal), on a balance of probabilities, that something truly unique and exceptional occurred to cause the undermarketing.”

Osztrovics could not be reached for comment.

Of five requests for relief beyond the 10 per cent re-grow entitlement in the past three years, CFO has granted two. BF