Saturday, January 30, 2021

Chicken production remains on cut-back

The allocation for chicken production from mid-April to the end of May will be two per cent less than base quota.


That’s the Ontario allocation from the national agency, amounting to just under 64 million kilograms of the national total of l89 million.


Throughout the reductions, the Ontario board has allowed small-scale, artisanal and special breeds producers to continue without cuts. They are allowed to produce without having to own quota, but they must live within the marketing board’s policies and regulations.


Those three programs were introduced at a time when chicken markets were booming and Ontario was benefitting from a new national allocation program which allowed the province to increase at a rate a bit greater than the national rate, provided allocations are more than base quota.


That helped to address the chronic shortage of chicken in Ontario.


The Ontario board said the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt the chicken market with less being sold via restaurants and more for in-home consumption.