New program for Ontario chicken farmers growing for niche markets

Thursday, September 24, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

Chicken farmers wanting to grow birds for a distinct local market can apply to Chicken Farmers of Ontario’s new Local Niche Markets program.

Launched Sept. 18, the program is designed to help fill evolving consumer demand for local chicken in niche markets. It also supports smaller scale commercial farmers “looking for more growing options,” a Chicken Farmers of Ontario press release says.

Farmers must apply to be in the program to grow 6,000 to 60,000 chickens annually for a targeted, well defined and distinct local market. Farmers must also have 1,000 to 10,000 units of production quota to participate. That’s less than commercial chicken farmers, who must hold a minimum of 14,000 units of production quota enabling them to produce about 90,000 birds a year.

Chicken Farmers president and CEO Rob Dougans says in the release the local niche markets program will give “innovative and entrepreneurial farmers the opportunity to fill new and emerging markets or markets looking for different types of locally grown chicken products.”

The local niche markets program is one of several new, expanded or revised programs Chicken Farmers is introducing this year after holding six months of consultations with industry representatives and consumers in 2014 and 2015 on how the province’s growth should be allocated.

Michael Edmonds, Chicken Farmers communications and government relations director, says, “the board’s strategy is to launch a portfolio of new programs which will give us the flexibility to meet a number of local, regional and artisanal markets.”

With the new programs, Chicken Farmers has “introduced a lot of flexibility for farmers, processors and consumers into the market this year. The board is very pleased about the growth opportunities this is helping to create.”

In July, Chicken Farmers launched its Artisanal Chicken program enabling farmers to grow 600 to 3,000 birds a year through a production licence for sales in targeted markets, such as local farmers’ markets. Farmers in this program don’t need quota for their production.

At the same time, Chicken Farmers renamed the small flock program the Family Food program. Farmers can grow up to 300 birds a year for their own consumption or farm gate sales and don’t need quota in that program. In 2014, just under 15,000 registered small flock growers, now called family food growers, bought chicks in Ontario, according to the Chicken Farmers website. That’s a three per cent increase over the previous year. The average flock size in 2014 was 65 birds.

The production volumes for the new growth programs “will be supplied from a percentage of future growth allocated to the Ontario market from the national supply management system for chicken each year,” the Chicken Farmers release says.

Chicken Farmers has also revised its new entrant farmer and new entrant processor programs. BF