The Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing board has hired several people to scrutinize small flocks.
While the board says its focus is disease control, small flock operators have been intimidated by previous moves to make life more difficult for them. They have been suspicious that the board’s hidden agenda is to push them out of business.
In its current newsletter, the chicken board is telling its members that the moves ‘focused on regulated non-quota holding small flock growers . . . will support the development of an integrated risk management framework. . .”It says “this project will assess the biosecurity risks of small flock growers to commercial production and recommend potential mitigation strategies.”
But the board is also after “economic/production risks” which are ”being assessed by comparing Form 300 data to CFO statistics and government slaughter data.” In other words, the chicken board wants to know whether small-flock owners are cheating and taking market from its members.
The project coincides with a decision by the national agency to reduce production because rising costs have prompted major price increases.
“To lead this project, CFO has enlisted the expertise of Dr. Tom Baker” who recently retired from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs where he was in charge of inspection of slaughter facilities.
He will be “joined by Jean Marie Buregeya, a graduate student at the University of Guelph enrolled in the Master of Public Health (MPH) program. Jean is interning with CFO for the summer and will focus on assessing the potential biosecurity risks associated with small flocks.”
The third hire is “future University of Guelph student, Kerry Woolnough, (who) has joined CFO as an intern to assist with data entry related to assessing the production implications.”
The CFO has sent a biosecurity survey to a random selection of small flock growers to help it “better understand biosecurity practices that are currently in place within small flocks in Ontario. A sample of Small Flock growers’ premises are also being inspected against CFO’s Small Flock and Farm Gate Marketing Regulation.”
The board says “this effort supports responsible supply management stewardship by reinforcing the cost-effective and socially-responsible production of safe, high quality chicken and sustainability-enhancing solutions for the Ontario chicken industry.
