Canada’s 550 pullet producers have launched a national campaign to win supply management powers for their sector.
“We need one voice to talk for us across the country,” said Pullet Growers of Canada (PGC) president Andy DeWeerd.
“We need to be able to speak on issues like cost-of-production, disease control and on-farm food safety.”
Since the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency was created almost 40 years ago, CEMA and its descendant Egg Farmers of Canada have represented the pullet industry that produces replacement chicks for laying flocks.
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DeWeerd said the relationship between pullet producers and the egg industry is good but “we cannot rely on the good graces of the egg organizations to represent us.”
Steinbach, Man., producer and PGC treasurer Cal Dirks said March 21 that winning support for a nation-a l marketing agency from Farm Products Council of Canada would strengthen and stabilize the industry.
Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia have provincial boards that set production quotas, but because pullet production can be moved to provinces without organized systems, they cannot set prices based on costs.
“Growers across the country want a sustainable return and includes the cost of chicks and feed but also the cost of the infrastructure needed to raise them,” he said.
“A national agency also would give us the legal ability to have a voice on testing for disease, on-farm food safety systems and compensation for chicks ordered destroyed.”
The first phase of the process, now underway, is to consult with producers across the country. Organizers hope to be able to make a formal request to the FPCC for creation of an agency under the Farm Products Agencies Act by summer.
Eventually, provincial governments would have to buy in by creating provincial agencies.
