Saturday, March 28, 2015

Chicken processors file appeals

Chicken processors in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have all filed appeals with their provincial governments over the new national chicken allocation policy.

That means it’s not yet a done deal, writes David Schmidt of Country Life in B.C. newspaper.

He picked up news of the appeals from David Janzen, chairman of the B.C. chicken growers marketing board and the B.C. director on the national agency, from comments Janzen made during a meeting of chicken farmers at Abbotsford.

Janzen said “we need to get through this issue. I want to see stability.”

Under the new policy, Ontario and Alberta will gain additional production rights when the national market increases.

Since the beginning of national supply management, provincial shares have remained at the initial percentages of whatever national target the board of directors set.

Ontario and Alberta have complained from the beginning that they are not able to produce and process enough chicken to meet their provincial demand.

Until now, the other provinces have not been willing to yield any of their share to satisfy the increasing demand in Alberta and Ontario. They have, instead, preferred to “export” some of their chicken to provinces that haven’t got enough.

The appeals have been filed with the supervisory bodies each province has appointed to oversee marketing boards.