The Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing board has
drastically narrowed its specialty-markets policy to apply only to new breeds.
That bows to pressure from the large processing companies
which have lobbied for that approach ever since the marketing board adopted a
policy for niche-market development.
It has never implemented that policy because the Association
of Ontario Chicken Processors (AOCP) filed a couple of appeals to the Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture and Food Appeal Tribunal.
It abandoned both appeals at the last minute and undertook
new rounds of negotiations with the chicken board.
The most recent development came at the national level where
the Chicken Farmers of Canada marketing agency finally relented and granted the
Ontario board the right to increase production to meet one niche market – with dual
purpose and Silkie breeds from Frey’s Hatchery at St. Jacobs.
Now, according to the chicken board’s current newsletter, it
is pursuing this special-breeds approach to keep it in line with the national
agency’s policy.
The processors have a director to represent them at the
national agency.
The Ontario board says in its current newsletter that it is open
to consultations now on the new specialty-markets policy and is also undertaking
a review of its market-development policy.
That is a misnomer that really means production for export.
The Ontario board has insisted that any production under
this national-agency program must be shared among all producers. Some other
provinces allow processors to contract with individual producers for this
market-development production and those provinces are producing far more
chickens for “market development”.
The policy is designed to get more breast meat, which is in
keen demand by Canadians, without glutting the market for dark meat which is,
instead, exported.
The Independent Poultry Processors association has filed an
appeal against the chicken board for failing to implement a specialty-market
development policy that’s in line with recommendations from a committee
established several years ago.
