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6 THE RURAL VOICE
Jeffrey Carter
Time to legalize bootleg chicken
Jeffrey
Carter is a
freelance
journalist
based in
Dresden,
Ontario.
The Chicken Farmers of Ontario
(CFO) could do themselves a public
relations favour by dropping quota
requirements for small flocks.
The National Farmers Union (NFU)
in Ontario and Ecological Farmers
Association of Ontario (EFAO) have
been campaigning in that regard. Ann
Slater, a small farmer near St. Marys,
helped represent both organizations at
a March 8 meeting with CFO
directors and staff.
"In Alberta you can raise 2,000
chickens (a year) without quota as
long as you sell them direct from the
farm or from your stall at a farmers'
market," Slater says.
"We're not looking to undermine
supply -management."
Instead, the NFU and EFAO may
be actually helping the cause of
supply -management, in at least three
different areas.
First of all, a quota exemption
would make the job of CFO's
chicken police considerably easier.
No longer would farmers selling a
relatively small number of chickens
without quota be operating illegally.
Secondly, farmers outside of the
supply -management would have
legitimate means of entering the
industry — in a small way. That
could gain the CFO popularity among
the general farm community where
supply -management is sometimes
viewed as an old boys' network. It
might even lead to new producers
eventually buying quota. (Slater says
there's currently a minimum quota
purchase restriction of 14,000 units,
although farmers can ask for an
exemption.)
Finally, the direct -to -consumer
sales that are often involved with
small flock production could help
narrow the divide that currently exists
between chicken farmers and
consumers. Off -quota producers
would serve as ambassadors for the
farm community and, indirectly, for
supply -management.
Naturally, quality and safety
standards would need to be
maintained, whether chicken is being
produced with, or without, quota.
Slater feels farmers and staff with
the CFO who met with the NFU and
EFAO representatives were listening.
That's a good thing. With any
organization, whether it's the NFU,
EFAO, or CFO, the vision for the
future can narrow over time. Fresh
perspectives are always useful.
There are — at the very least —
two different farming realities in
Canada today.
Most supply -management chicken
producers, I suspect, will tell you
they are involved in a supply chain
that efficiently delivers large
quantities of product at a reasonable
price to consumers. Granted, the
terms efficient and reasonable are
used from the perspective of someone
involved in an industrialized system.
The terms efficient and reasonable
might also be applied to small flock
owners to the way they produce and
price their product. Their birds are
marketed directly to consumers —
after a brief detour to a processor —
and pricing is established directly
between buyer and seller.
Establishing a licensing agreement
for these small flock producers. with
a relatively modest fee attached, may
be appropriate. They currently
represent just a tiny fraction of the
overall market. That's unlikely to
change substantially since they do not
represent major competition to
mainstream chicken producers in
either convenience or price.
Yet their existence is important on
at least two fronts.
Society is hedging its food security
bet in supporting two radically
different production systems. And in
opening the door to a modest
competitor, supply -management
farmers will have gained an ally.0
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