RED DEER Ñ The last birds leave Aaron Falkenberg’s farm on May 22, closing a chapter in his 35 year career in the broiler business.
The retiring chair of the Alberta Chicken Producers has sold his chicken quota and plans to remain on the farm on the eastern outskirts of Edmonton where he and his wife Audrey will pursue other interests. For Falkenberg, that includes seats on the boards of organizations close to his heart that encourage agriculture and promote adding value to Alberta products.
He wants to continue working with the agricultural promotion group Growing Alberta, the Northlands Exhibition board and Alberta Financial Services Corp., as well as holding his seat on the board of the funding agency AVAC.
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Falkenberg started working with chickens as a nine-year-old boy whose job was to feed the birds on his father’s operation.
He started farming in 1970 when the supply-managed system for poultry and dairy was only five years old.
He comes by his tenacious support of supply management honestly. His father was the first chair of the Alberta Broiler Growers Marketing Board, a position he held for 10 years. An uncle held the job for two and the younger Falkenberg served with the board for more than eight.
In his retirement speech, he reminded chicken producers that the supply- managed system is a privilege that provides them with a good living.
“That privilege is bestowed upon us by our government. It is not a God-given right,” he said.
He worries about the fate of controlled marketing during future World Trade Organization negotiations.
“Things are not going to get better. They may stay the same if we work hard, but I have not heard they are going to improve,” Falkenberg said in an interview on his last day as chair.
Canada has a 238 percent tariff on chicken and minimum access controls on imports on all types of raw and processed chicken. In his opinion, these provisions for Canadian poultry must hold.
“We already allow seven percent in. Other countries are only allowing five percent,” he said.
He knows other Canadian commodity groups have criticized the system, but he argues that when things turn sour, they are among the first to ask for government aid.
“We shouldn’t have to apologize for the business we are in,” he said.
Choosing 2005 as his retirement year took him out on a high note during a year of high profitability with more young people joining the business and consumer demand increasing for chicken.
“We’ve had tremendous increase because they like our meat and now we have to give them more reasons to eat more,” he said.
