Pullet growers hold public hearings on marketing agency proposal

by SUSAN MANN

The next step in Pullet Growers of Canada’s bid to establish a marketing agency for pullet growers is the public hearings being held by the Farm Products Council of Canada.

Andy DeWeerd, chair of Pullet Growers of Canada, says the hearings are being held in Ottawa on April 23 and in Winnipeg on May 22.

The council also accepted written submissions on the Pullet Growers’ proposal and DeWeerd says more than half of the 80 submissions were in favour of the marketing agency, while seven or eight were neutral and the rest were opposed.

After the hearings are done, the panel will make a recommendation to the Farm Products Council’s board and if its favourable the council will meet with federal Agriculture Gerry Ritz, who will ask Cabinet to approve the marketing agency. “After that we start working on national/provincial agreements,” he says.

DeWeerd says it’s likely the marketing agency will be approved this year but the national/provincial agreements could take longer to complete. Those agreements are between the national pullet agency and its provincial counterparts on matters, such as allocation. But once the government approves the agency, it’s in place, he notes.

There are 550 pullet growers in Canada. Pullets, young chickens raised to become egg layers, are currently the only part of the feather industry not under supply management. The pullet growers’ organization is pursuing agency status to give it the required legal powers to represent and make decisions on behalf of members. The organization will give pullet producers their own voice in the poultry industry.

Pullet Growers first submitted its proposal to establish a marketing agency in December 2010, he says. The process has taken longer than they expected but “it has never gone backwards. We just kept moving ahead on it,” he explains. BF