WINNIPEG – The chicken industry is changing dramatically because of international trade regulations, but Manitoba producers aren’t squawking about changes to the Crow subsidy.
The government will no longer be helping pay for transportation of feed grain to provinces like Ontario and British Columbia, so “we’ll have an edge over our competition,” said Cornie Friesen, chair of the Manitoba Chicken Producer Board.
“I hope that our grain farmers will still be getting the same price (for feed grain), but I am thankful that for those who don’t live in the grain belt, the taxpayer will no longer subsidize his grain into those provinces.”
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Speaking to about 80 farmers and industry representatives at the board’s annual meeting, agriculture minister Harry Enns said Manitoba will become “the most appropriate place, economically speaking” to produce chickens after Aug.1.
Increase livestock production
“The natural direction for Manitoba agriculture to go is toward greater livestock production,” Enns said. “And when I speak of greater livestock production, I want you to understand that I’m totally inclusive. It’s not just pork, not just beef. It’s turkey, it’s broilers, it’s eggs, it’s everything that consumes feed grains.”
Friesen said more producers will be able to get into the chicken business as demand rises. Production has increased by 50 percent over the last 10 years to meet rising demand.
“I would anticipate a 100 percent increase in the chicken industry in the next 10 years,” Friesen said. “But it will be done as the demand rises, and not as somebody fancies to build a barn.”
Supply management in the chicken industry has changed in recent years because of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
The board has been managing supply at the provincial level rather than relying on a supply management committee at the national level. Friesen said processors tell the board how much chicken they need, and negotiate a price for it.
But there are still a few “kinks” in the new system to work out, he said. Storage stocks have almost tripled because processors overcalculated how much chicken they could sell. But Friesen said these mistakes were due to inexperience with the new system.
“There are anticipated markets that don’t materialize, then they’ve asked for too much product,” he said. Frozen stocks lose value, and although those stocks are owned by processors, the producers ultimately feel the effects.
Friesen said producers had an average year in 1994 and he expects the same in 1995. Although producers did not recoup their costs of production this year, “compared to other commodities in farming, we have done well.”
