Canadian poultry farmers want to be counted in the upcoming census, but they don’t want the census takers tracking highly contagious diseases such as avian influenza with them as they travel from farm to farm.
To prevent the spread of that disease or any other, Statistics Canada has implemented a policy limiting where census workers can go when dropping off the census questionnaires on Canadian farms.
Steven Danford, senior analyst with the Census of Agriculture, said census takers will be instructed to go to a house to drop off the forms. They’re not to cross the farm yard, enter the barns or chase farmers down in the fields to fill out the surveys.
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“They’re just to go to the house,” he said.
Census takers will also be told not to enter the farm if there is a no trespassing because of biosecurity sign at the gate.
“Many farmers are concerned about biosecurity,” said Danford.
British Columbia poultry producers got a clear picture of how easily avian influenza can travel between barns when it was spread by Canadian Food Inspection Agency veterinarians trying to control the disease after it was discovered in a Fraser Valley barn almost two years ago.
Since then, producers have taken extra precautions to keep the disease out of the barns.
“To the extent we can limit traffic anywhere near the facility or people coming on to the farm that don’t need to be there, we’re going to try to do that,” said Susan Gall, general manager of Alberta Egg Producers.
“The problem is travelling from farm to farm. That could potentially cause us the problem. There’s no reason to be in the barn. All of the barns should be locked. There should be signs posted.”
On farms where access is limited due to biosecurity controls, farmers have a responsibility to fill out the census form quickly so census staff doesn’t have to make multiple visits to the farm, she added.
