The Chicken Farmers of Ontario
marketing board is following up on its earlier plans and is inviting
applications from small-flock producers for “The Artisanal Chicken Program”.
It Is open to those willing to
produce 600 to 3,000 birds per year.
It is also strictly limited because
the national agency only allows Ontario to increase production by a percentage
of growth in national demand.
Earlier the board allocated quota to
producers to supply the market for dual-purpose and red-feathered birds. They
need to buy their poults from Frey’s Hatchery in St. Jacobs and commit to marketing
their birds to board-approved processors.
Although not many details have been
revealed, this new plan appears to be open to any breed of bird and any
processor.
The board says its program “provides
opportunities for small, independent, locally based farmers to meet local
demands for safe high quality chicken.
“The Artisanal Chicken Program will
help farmers fill local food and seasonal markets and will give Ontario
consumers more choice and options in how and where they buy locally grown
chicken.
“CFO will strive to foster close
productive relationships between Artisanal Chicken Farmers and their business
partners based on strong artisanal values in the production and marketing of
artisanal chicken.”
Production will begin next year and
successful applicants must be in “compliance with the On-Farm Food safety
Assurance Program and (OFFSAP) and the Animal Care Program (and) will be
required to maintain biosecurity and industry standards which support the long
term sustainability of the chicken industry in Ontario.
“The closing date for submissions for
2016 Applications is September 4, 2015.”
The permission to grow birds under
this program will be for one year at a time.
Small-flock owners, led by Glenn
Black of Providence Bay, Manitoulin Island, have been lobbying long and hard to
gain permission for small-flock farmers to market up to 2,500 birds per year
without quota.
I could hear Black cheering all the way from Providence Bay to Kitchener!
Under board regulations, it would
cost more than $1 million for quota alone to become a member of the marketing
board.
The board says it will launch two
other new programs - a Local Niche Markets program, and a Business Development
program – but has provided no details.
Black has long argued that there is a keen market among consumers who want special types of chicken from local farmers. He has argued that allowing small-flock owners to fill this demand without having to own quota would not hurt quota holders and would do much to enhance the reputation of supply management.
