The efforts to reform the Canadian chicken production allocation system hit a snag in late November that set back the signing ceremony by two months.
A plan to introduce tighter controls on overproduction had been worked out painstakingly over the past year.
But when directors of Chicken Farmers of Canada, provinces, and processors got together to work out final wording, it turned into a two-day debate with no signing.
“The processors had a bit of a hangup and some of the provincial governments had some hangups,” said CFC president John Kolk.
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By the end, he said, the disagreements had been worked out and a Jan. 29 signing is now scheduled.
The new allocation system – the second attempt to replace the more rigid supply management system of quotas set by boards – will take effect in April.
It will be based on processors setting the demand in each province. The country will be divided into eastern, central and western regions.
Each year, national production increases will be limited to five percent, with a five percent cap in each region and eight percent in any one province within the regional system.
A 1.5 percent extra quota will be available to high growth regions, like the Prairies.
Production cutback
Kolk said part of last week’s delay was that Ontario and Quebec, with 67 percent of production, did not want to find themselves cutting back while the smaller regions continued to produce product that would then flow to Eastern Canada.
After four months of less than one percent growth in Eastern Canada, all the regions would be cut to 2.5 percent growth cap.
“Quebec and Ontario basically said they did not want to hold an umbrella for the West,” said Kolk. “They are willing to hold it for a little while but not (more than four months).”
The processors also used last week’s meeting to demand, and gain, more say in interprovincial deals on production caps.
“Processors wanted to be sure they have a say in reconciling production levels in the provinces and between regions,” said Pearl Cooper, general manager of Abattoir Laurentide in Ste. Sophie, Que.
