Egg farmers in Manitoba are hatching some new ways to make their business less fragile to the hard knocks of international trade.
Groups of producers recently announced plans to start Canada’s first “new generation” co-operative, and to build what is thought to be the largest egg barn in the country.
The two projects are not directly related. But they both stem from concerns about the viability of their operations in the future, when tariff walls are expected to gradually come down, letting more U.S. eggs into the supply-managed industry.
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For a few years, egg farmers have been looking into how to meet liberalized trade head on.
After considerable research, a group of four farmers stepped forward and started working on a co-op, so when the right opportunity comes knocking, they’ll have the money in hand to help make it happen.
Tony Brunette, executive director of the co-op, said they’ll only go ahead if they get members totalling at least half of the province’s 205 farmers who own at least 60 percent of the province’s quota.
By the end of the month they have to commit $3.6 million to the co-op, based on a $3 share for every laying hen, or unit of quota, in their barns. The capital will be used for some kind of value-added opportunity, a new plant or an expansion, to increase production in the province.
“If we can attract opportunities for greater production, it benefits not just the producers,” said Brunette. “It benefits the pullet growers, it benefits the feed guys, it benefits everybody.”
Eventual dividends from the investment will be made on the basis of farmers’ initial investments.
Meanwhile, a separate group of 11 farmers have put their quota into the Milleni Egg corporation to build a $3.5-million barn east of Morris, Man. to house 150,000 hens.
Frank Friesen, part of the group, said the farmers had old barns and old equipment and wanted to make an investment that would weather any trade storms by finding economies of scale.
“We just don’t see the future being that you can have 5,000 bird barns scattered across the province,” said Friesen.
The barn will be similar to the average-sized U.S. barn, and will include a composting unit to manage manure by turning it into fertilizer and bagging it.
One of the shareholders will manage the barn with help from another employee. The rest of the farmers are occupied with other types of farming operations, Friesen said.
Shareholders’ quota adds up to 125,000 hens. The other 25,000 will produce eggs destined for contracts with processors.
All the shareholders have also become members of the egg co-op.
Friesen doesn’t see bigger barns as a radical departure from the typical family farm. Friesen compares it to the evolution of grain farms, which were all about a quarter section of land when he started farming.
Today, he said, it just takes more acres – or eggs – to make a living.
