Glenn Black of Small Flock Poultry Farmers of Canada has
written to Geri Kamenz, chairman of the Ontario Farm Products Marketing
Commission, welcoming his comments about re-opening negotiations on chicken
pricing.
Kamenz has said the commission will consider a request from
the Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing board to re-open negotiations and, if
the commission agrees, then it will hold another round of negotiations.
Black invites Kamenz to add a third party representing
Ontario consumers to the negotiations between the marketing board and the
Association of Ontario Chicken Processors.
He also suggests that if the three fail to reach agreement,
they ought to each present a final offer and the commission ought to choose one
of those three.
If the commission agrees, it would be the first time the
public would have a direct voice on marketing board regulations and policies.
The marketing board has complained about a new pricing formula,
citing concerns about the valuation of assets, farm-level contributions to
efficiency gains and other issues, The underlying aim of the marketing board is
to lessen the price-reducing impact of the new formula.
Prices for current production have been cut by 5.1 cents per
kilogram in this formula compared with the previous one.
Small Flock Poultry Farmers of Canada, operating mainly on
initiatives from Black, has been pressing for an increase in the volume of
chicken a person can raise without requiring an investment of about $1 million
for quota.
Black is asking for the maximum to be increased from 300
birds per year now to 2,000.
He has argued this will benefit farmers, the local food
movement, the pursuit of increased employment, the nutritional value of chicken
that would be raised on pasture and offer consumers more choices among a greater variety of
production and processing protocols.
The chicken board has been adamantly opposed to the request
for an increase.
