Online database to store details of chicken farmers' transactions

Thursday, March 6, 2014

by MATT MCINTOSH

Chicken Farmers of Ontario is setting up a new online database that will track farmers’ transactions with fellow producers, processors, and other industry partners.

The database is called CFO Connects, and according to a March 6 press release, will allow farmers to access a wide variety of industry information much more easily, helping to strengthen both food traceability and business relationships.

“It’s a way of capturing CFO’s transactions in one effective online location, much in the same way banks or insurance companies do,” says Michael Edmonds, director of communications and government relations at Chicken Farmers of Ontario.

“Everything from details on human resources to producers buying chicks and selling to processors will be accessible online.”

The press release says CFO Connects will be rolled out in four phases, each focusing on a different aspect of the chicken industry in Ontario. One of the key aspects of the program’s first phase – referred to in the press release as “strengthening core business activities” – is an online program called CFO Connects Trace that will allow farmers to track their transactions with industry suppliers, processors, and CFO itself, without using paper.

Instead, all transactions can be logged in online producer accounts, making it much easier for all parties to access that information when and if needed.

Edmonds says a preliminary “bare bones” website has already been set up for the general CFO Connects program. The organization also expects pilot versions of many “farmer focused aspects,” such the online program, to be available to producers on the website by this coming fall.

The organization expects to fully implement the online program within a year. Edmonds did not provide a time frame or specific details on the other three phases of the whole database.

CFO Connects was announced on March 6 at Chicken Farmers of Ontario’s annual meeting. The organization is using $800,000 recently awarded under Growing Forward 2 to fund the database development. BF