Chicken imports exceeded the increased quotas allowed under free trade agreements last year, Michael Laliberté, chief executive officer of Chicken Farmers of Canada reported to the recent annual meeting of Chicken Farmers of Ontario.
Supplementary import permits were granted for 2.9 million kilograms of chicken.
Part of that arose because Ontario fell 1.9 per cent short of its production goal as allowed by national agency allocations.
Several presenters outlined difficulties lining up enough chicks to meet production requirements and they all said the supply chain has come together to address the needs.
Most of that is between two marketing boards, one Chicken Farmers of Ontario, the other the Ontario Broiler Chick and Hatching Egg Commission.
Both CFO general manager Denise Hockaday and Amy Cronin, chair of the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission, said the people involved have done a good job of addressing the challenges.
Laliberté said the directors of Chicken Farmers of Canada approved a levy increase of a bit more than two cents a kilogram during their recent meeting.
And he said the national agency is lobbying the federal government to set a cap on imports.
