Guelph – Mark Schnurr has lost his appeal to the tribunal to
be able to move quota 2.5 kilometres from one property he owns to his home
farm.
The chicken board refused the transfer because it’s less
than the board’s 14,000 minimum. The quota Schnurr wants to move is 7,200
units.
It's an example of bureaucratic arrogance that punishes the very type of person marketing boards were established to protect.
Schnurr testified at a public hearing before the
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal that it would cost an extra
$60,000 to expand his main barn on a property about 2.5 kilometres from his
home because it’s close to an environmentally-sensitive area.
Instead he built a 10,000-square-foot barn near his home and
wants to move the 7,200 units of quota into the new barn.
The chicken board argued that would be an exemption to its
14,000 minimum for quota transfers and might entice others to ask for similar
exemptions. The tribunal agreed.
However, the tribunal’s notes from the hearing say the
board’s definition of “premises” is general enough that it’s possible the board
could deal with the two barns as one premises housing a total of about 23,000
basic units of quota.
Don't hold your breath waiting for the chicken board to do the right thing.
These are, after all, the same people who negotiated a deal to prevent cross-border trade with Quebec and who refuse to supply CAMI International Poultry Inc. because it has been too darn successful developing new markets for chicken.
Bit by bit, the Ontario chicken board is making a solid case for politicians to take away supply management.
