Practical Farmers of Ontario (PFO), the newest general farm
organization in the province, has asked Chicken Farmers of Ontario to increase
the annual exemption from quota from 300 to 2,000 birds, and has been rejected.
Sean McGivern, president of PFO, is asking the marketing
board to reconsider.
If, as he expects, the board repeats its rejection, he plans
to appeal to the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission.
McGivern notes that other provinces offer a much higher
exemption to farmers who don’t need to have quota to raise chickens and said
that puts Ontario farmers at a competitive disadvantage. McGivern notes that Ontario has lost 23 per cent of its farms in the last 15 years.
He also notes that Ontario has a bigger population, there is
a diverse demand for specialty products small-flock owners could fill and there
is demand for large roasters.
The chicken board, via vice-president Gwen Zellen who
handles food safety issues, replied to PFO that the 300-bird exemption is
intended to allow families to raise chickens for their own consumption. They
are also allowed to sell to buyers who come to the farm.
She said the average flock raised by about 13,000
small-flock permit holders is 56 birds and sales average one bird per 15 raised
by small-flock permit holders.
McGivern said that letter does not address the issues the
PFO raised with the board.
“The current 300 bird level is neither practical nor viable,
it is inefficient and appears by design to assure failure,” McGivern wrote the
chicken board.
The exemption level is 2,000 birds per year in
Alberta’ and British Columbia, and 999 in Manitoba for
the first year and then farmers can apply for an exemption to produce to meet
market demand.
Saskatchewan recently increased its limit to 4,000, but
capped it at 1.5 per cent of the province’s allocation from the national
marketing agency.
Nova Scotia’s limit is 500 birds, but farmers can, after the
initial year, apply to go as high as 10,000 birds without quota.
