There is a keen demand for “artisanal chicken” since the
marketing board opened the door for selected farmers to produce up to 3,000
birds per year without requiring quota.
Glenn Black of Providence Bay, Manitoulin Island, lobbied
relentlessly to persuade the chicken board to allow farmers without quota to
raise birds for local customers.
He now reports that he’s sold out for the rest of this year and
for 2017 and he’s asking producers to contact him because he has customers
eager to buy their birds.
These customers want live birds because they process them to
their specifications.
His e-mail is cdn.small.flockers@gmail.com .
The chicken board was stubborn for too long about keeping non-quota holders out of the market, but it has definitely changed its attitude for the better.
Now it has several programs aimed at serving special and niche markets, including non-quota production and an avenue for new processors to get into the market.
The surest route to survival is satisfied customers, and these programs are definitely satisfying a lot of previously-frustrated customers.
Glenn Black deserves a marketing board award for being such an aggressive, annoying and persistent advocate for small-flock producers.
