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
Comments
My Dad and I have farms that butt up to each other. One field of mine is eight acres, due to a creek separating it from the rest of my farm. Likewise, his 100 acre farm has a field that is 58 acres due to a creek. We work these 2 fields as one for a field of 66 acres simply because it is more efficient, right? Of course it is.
Now, under the rules of the chicken farmers, I could in put a barn along the fenceline of my farm, likewise my Dad could do the same.
But, the barns cannot join and be more efficient.
INSANE.
And since the price is still fixed, the consumer is forced to pay for these inefficiencies.
Raube Beuerman
So if you were able to join the barns would you be willing to raise the birds for less dollars ?
Also the one way to get around your problem would be to have both your and your fathers name on both deeds . Not defending CF but think there is more to it . You have picked out one thing with out giving an in depth explanation or a one sided view . How would your County or MPAC treat ajoining barns on two different properties ?
The point I am making, is that this is still full-blown supply management, and inefficiencies are bestowed upon the consumer by these rules of cfo's 'game'.
Raube Beuerman
I think the greatest efficiency has come from southern style contract production which enslaves contractors. Their boom an bust dairy industry has been fueled by a form of supply management which uses taxpayer dollars from time to time to pay producers not to produce.
One of the worst efficiencies might be Ontario style beef production which drove out our processing sector. Our pork producers themselves are efficient but require frequent bailouts and even a buyout at one point.
The one thing about agriculture is that some sectors can be taken indoors and are industrialized like a factory . It is all good until a desease comes through and all but wipes out production . When growing field crops you can not forget that Mother Nature still reigns supreme . Mother nature can take an efficiency and toss it out the window in seconds . Field crops are completely different in agriculture but seem to always get lumped in with the rest .
The price is still fixed and small producer win
The municipality will have set back limits to how close you can go to the field line
10:34 AM 15-07-30
I have already thanked CFO for allowing this opportunity of Artisanal Chicken to come forward. How much of an opportunity it really is will eventually be learned down the road. On that basis, I worked till 2:00 AM to read everything CFO disclosed on this program, then submitted my application with trust and hope stretched to the limit.
The billionaire Richard Branson, founder of the 400 companies in his Virgin Group said, "Play fair, be prepared for others to play dirty, and don't let them drag you into the mud."
Sounds like excellent advice, ready made for any Small Flocker thinking about dealing with CFO and applying for Artisanal Chicken Program.
When a fox invites a Small Flock rooster to come to the fox's den for dinner, it is prudent to ask what's on the menu before accepting the dinner invitation.
For example, CFO has dangled the carrot that the Artisanal Chicken program will be allocated 5% of the chicken market growth that CFO achieved the previous year.
What CFO doesn't say is that 95% of the growth automatically goes to the kits of Mama Fox. CFO also doesn't disclose what happens if there is no growth in the previous year.
No quota growth could happen due to weather, economic recession, Bird Flu, rogue CAFO chicken farmers or processors who get caught by animal rights activists or CFIA food inspectors, a fight at the Chicken Farmers of Canada that refuses Ontario any quota increase, or a hundred of other reasons.
With no quota growth, CFO's allocation to Artisanal Chicken goes to zero (ie. 5% of zero equals zero), and Small Flockers who made the investment into Artisanal Chicken are summarily executed. The following year, the door to the fox's den is opened again, the welcome mat is put out, and the fox awaits the next group of Small Flockers to blindly trust & enter.
That may not be the intention of CFO, but it is a reasonable interpretation of what CFO has said so far, and requires some clarification by CFO for prudent Small Flockers before they enter the fox's den.
Unfortunately, this is just one of dozens of other risks that the Artisanal Chicken program currently contains.
Caveat Emptor ("let the buyer beware")
Glenn Black, President
Small Flock Poultry Farmers of Canada
funny how there are no more vicious comments from Small Flockers and Practical Farmers of Ontario ......looks like Chicken Farmers of Ontario are not such terrible guys and have granted access into the broiler chicken market...which of you guys signed up?
G Kimble
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