Defying logic, the national chicken agency has cut the allocation for Ontario by 6.1 per cent from the year-earlier level for quota period A-108, which runs from Dec. 4 to Jan. 28.
If this is an example of the wonderful new and harmonious relationship that the Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing board says it has reached with the Association of Ontario Chicken Processors, it's crazy.
During the recent hearing conducted by the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission, board vice-chairman Henry Zantingh said the underlying problem that has fractured relationships in Ontario has been the chronic shortage of chicken.
So how can he then testify that things have gotten much better since the AOCP and the board, meeting under the chairmanship of a member of the Commission, have been working on a vision for the Ontario chicken industry?
I can understand that the AOCP members think things are getting better because it's in their best interests to short the Ontario market. That ensures that they have no trouble selling every kilogram of chicken they process at whatever price they deem satisfactory.
And, for the really big processors, if they run short in Ontario, they can always sell from plants they own in other provinces.
So who argues for increased production? The members of the Ontario Independent Poultry Processors association, which happens to represent 42 per cent of the processors.
If they could get all they need to fill their orders, they would quickly expand to take up more than two per cent of market share they now hold in Ontario.
