Ontario's chicken farmers begin transition to digital

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

A small group of chicken farmers has kissed paper forms goodbye and made the switch to digital transactions as part of Chicken Farmers of Ontario’s online system to conduct business in the industry.

Starting with quota period A-131, which began June 14, the 23 farmers who contract with Harriston-based processor Farm Fresh Poultry Co-operative Inc. began using Chicken Farmers of Ontario’s CFO Connects online business system for transactions, such as receiving their production allocation and placing hatchery orders for chicks. They’ll also use the system to get processed chicken confirmations from their processor and for relaying information related to chickens shipped for processing.

Previously farmers and their processors used a paper-based system to record the movement of birds from production to processing. In a press release, Chicken Farmers described that system as cumbersome and often repetitive.

Rob Dougans, president and CEO of Chicken Farmers of Ontario, says the organization is phasing in the transition to the digital system over the next six months with most of the 1,100 chicken farmers being on the new system by the end of the year.

So far, “the response from our farmer members, from Farm Fresh and the (CFO) staff that’s supporting it is all very positive,” he says.

Dougans says Farm Fresh Poultry and its contract farmers were selected to begin the switch because the processor has been “part of our traceability initiative. Secondly, from a scale standpoint they’re not a really large processor and farmer-member community but they have a significant scale that it was a good starting point.”

Dougans says, “CFO Connects uses enabling technology to enhance our current operating system. From production through to processing, we’re going to be managing the business differently.”

Chicken Farmers is changing the way the industry value chain works in Ontario, he notes.

Ken Moffett, general manager with Farm Fresh Poultry Co-operative, declined to comment, explaining he does not do media interviews.

The digital system will significantly simplify, streamline and standardize how the $3 billion Ontario chicken industry supply chain does business, according to the release.

Having access to data and the right performance metrics will enable both farmers and industry stakeholders to make better business decisions and have more successful operations, Dougans says. Furthermore, “some of the day-to-day tasks around the growing and the management of the chickens are now standardized. It’s simpler to communicate with the board and within the industry so it’s faster in that sense.”

Mike Terpstra, executive director of the Association of Ontario Chicken Processors, says by email “creating a digital system to capture transactions is a positive step forward for the industry.”

Ontario is the first province in Canada to switch to a digital-based system for transactions and record keeping. But the switch won’t impact its dealings with other provinces.

Ontario’s industry is distinct “so we don’t integrate with other provinces,” Dougans notes.

Terpstra says the system is specific to Ontario “and does not require the rest of Canada to be digital.”

The federal and provincial governments, through the national agricultural policy framework called Growing Forward 2, funded about half of the $1.6 million cost for the CFO Connects project, while Chicken Farmers paid the other half. BF