Friday, February 3, 2012

Lowbank appeal cancelled


The Lowbank Farm appeal has been cancelled, apparently because the Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing board and the Fennema brothers who run a processing plant and chicken farm reached a negotiated settlement.

Lowbank filed an appeal with the Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeals Tribunal, seeking board approval to match farm production to processing-plant capacity.

The board penalizes producers for over-producing or under-producing in any quota period which could leave Lowbanks occasionally short of anticipated supply.

As chicken demand increased, the board also allowed farmers to produce more chickens and Lowbanks sometimes needed to find a home for the extra birds, yet the processing company to which the board assigned those birds were reluctant to pay to pick them up because it was not profitable for such small volumes.

The original appeal hearing was rescheduled last fall while negotiations resumed, then it was scheduled for Feb. 3 and the Fennemas cancelled that appeal.