Ontario’s chicken quota holders will need to trim production
by 2.1 per cent for the quota period that runs from March 25 to May 19.
Meanwhile, Quebec producers will be allowed to increase
production by 0.6 per cent.
Nationally, the total allocation for quota period A-110 is
down by 0.7 per cent.
Ontario’s total allocation – a combination of regular and
market-development quota, adjusted for year-earlier over-production or
under-production, is 53,371,825 kilograms. Quebec’s is 44,526,304 and the
national total is 162,788,803.
I find this all rather strange, given testimony during a public hearing by the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission this fall.
Henry Zantingh, vice-chairman of the Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing board, said Ontario has consistently failed to get enough allocation from the national agency to meet market demand.
And he indicated that newfound harmonious relationships with the province's dominant chicken processors at a newly-formed Chicken Industry Advisory Committee would rectify this injustice.
According to his testimony, and that of Reg Cliche, chairman of the Association of Ontario Chicken Processors, they were on the brink of completing a new strategic plan to guide the Ontario chicken industry into a glorious future.
But the allocation figures for A-110 indicate it's more of the same old, same old.
