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AI Surveillance Program Begins in August Pilgrim's Pride Stopping Production at 2 Plants US Chicken Industry Disappointed By EPA Inaction Analysis Finds Prop 2 to Harm California Canada Disappointed With COOL Rule AMI Website Reflects US Farm Bill Changes Golden Valley Foods Announces Purchase of Sunshine Eggs Egg Grading Machine for Sale in BC CHEP Is Moving! Les POIC Déménagent! Conferences, Courses and Workshops
AI Surveillance Program Begins in August CPEPC forwarded a letter from Dr. Francine Lord of CFIA, along with a template, on Tuesday, August 5th to all CPEPC Chicken & Turkey Processors. CFIA is following up by sending those documents directly to processors as well. The letter required Processors to forward kill schedule information to CFIA by August 8th for Roasters, Turkeys, Light and Heavy Fowl. CFIA will use this information to choose individual producers across Canada for inclusion in the AI Surveillance program and will contact their provincial (CFIA) offices beginning next week. The provincial offices will, in turn, send letters on CFIA letterhead to each producer chosen to be part of the surveillance program. A few days after mailing the letter, the provincial CFIA rep will contact the selected producers by phone to set up the serological sampling for the farms. The plan is to begin taking blood samples on farms in August. Meanwhile, see the link below for a Q&A document that was developed by CFIA and industry (including the National Feather Agencies, Retailers, CRFA, Provincial CVO's and CPEPC). This Q&A document will be circulated to all Canadian producers, poultry veterinarians, etc. by their national and/or provincial associations within the next few weeks. We have been keeping you in the loop as the surveillance program has been developed over the past few months. In addition to those updates, any other questions you may have should be answered in the Q & A document. If any member has further questions, please contact Robin Horel at CPEPC. Questions and Answers (E) Questions et réponses (F) Chicken Farmers of Canada held their summer meeting in Halifax from August 12th to 14th. Around the periphery of a heavy agenda, which forced the open and closed sessions to run into an unintended third morning, were social activities hosted with that famous Nova Scotia hospitality. The most important item on the Open Board agenda for CPEPC was the setting of allocation for period A-88 (November / December). As anticipated, this proved to be another very difficult process. CPEPC continues to believe that the stakeholders make this more difficult than it needs to be and made a presentation on the use of CFC’s Report Card tool along with our recommendations for accepted ranges for the 5 most important market factors. The presentation seemed to be well received and we have been invited to share more information on how we arrived at our recommendations with both NFPC and CFC’s Production Policy Committee in the near future. The CFC Board of Directors arrived at a unanimous decision for period A-88 and set allocation at 135 Mkgs, 3% less than base. CPEPC’s Chicken members have received details directly from Council office. The CFC Directors continue to struggle with utilizing their own tools designed to look at allocation setting over the longer term and would not set an Anticipated Growth Rate (AGR) at less than the default 4% for period A-89. Clearly there is no requirement for growth in January / February of 2009 in the range of 4% and no good reason for not setting an AGR in the 0 – 1% range. Other items on the open agenda included: a progress report on the CFC Crisis Plan; an in depth review of the stakeholder input received on, and approval of, the revised 5 year strategic plan; and an update on various important animal disease issues (including the CanNAISS program which is the subject of another article in this edition of Highlighter). Nova Scotia’s Minister of Agriculture, attended a ceremony where the Provincial Board Chairs signed the On Farm Food Safety Program (OFFSAP) MOU.
Pilgrim's Pride Stopping Production at 2 Plants Poultry giant Pilgrim's Pride has announced that it will stop production at 2 processing plants in Arkansas and Louisiana with the aim of boost profits. Ending production at the Arkansas plant will result in a 1.25% cut in company's chicken production heading into fall. Processing at the Louisiana plant will be moved to other facilities. These productions cuts will result in the loss of 600 positions. Pilgrim's Pride has been attempting to cut production to restrict supply and lower chicken prices. With the cost of grains soaring, margins at the company have suffered. Pilgrim's Pride hopes that higher chicken prices may raise revenue enough to offset some of the higher costs. www.worldpoultry.net US Chicken Industry Disappointed By EPA Inaction US - The National Chicken Council says the industry is "deeply disappointed" that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has refused to grant a waiver of the ethanol mandate that is diverting billions of bushels of corn from livestock and poultry feed into motor fuel. "We are deeply disappointed that EPA has failed to heed the very clear signs that the food-to-fuel policy is causing severe harm to the economy," said George Watts, president of the National Chicken Council, the trade association for the nation's chicken production, processing and marketing companies. "When food prices are rising and chicken companies are losing money because of high feed costs, it is outrageous that the federal government continues to require and even to subsidize the diversion of corn from the food supply into the fuel supply," Watts said. Federal law allows EPA to grant a waiver of the ethanol mandate if needed. "Congress created this mess and Congress ought to fix it," he said. NCC estimates that higher feedgrain prices due largely to the ethanol program have cost companies in the broiler chicken industry more than $6 billion since October 2006. www.thepoultrysite.com
Analysis Finds Prop 2 to Harm California A University of California-Davis analysis has validated an earlier independent study that California ballot initiative "Prop 2" would end almost all egg production in California, harm the state's economy and hinder access to fresh, locally produced eggs, according to Californians for SAFE Food. The analysis, "Economic Effects of Proposed Restrictions on Egg Laying Facilities in California," was released last week. It concluded that all cage egg production systems and most cage-free systems in California would be forced to close because the housing systems do not provide sufficient bird space as required by the initiative, resulting in a loss of 4,750 jobs in the state and "hundreds of millions of dollars" in lost revenues, according to the SAFE Food group. The analysis determined this to mean that California consumers would become dependent on eggs shipped into the state from other states and Mexico, which would increase consumer egg prices, the group said. The analysis reached findings similar to those of an independent study conducted for the group in the spring. The ballot initiative is directed at the treatment of farm animals and, if passed, would require that all farm animals not be confined or tethered in a manner that prevents an animal from lying down, standing up, turning around and fully extending its limbs without touching another animal or an enclosure such as a cage or stall. Canada Disappointed With COOL Rule Canada is disappointed in the USDA's rule regarding the implementation of the mandatory country-of-origin labelling. According to Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, the Canadian government is concerned that the US COOL legislation may discriminate against Canadian products. "We will analyse the recently-released rule to determine the economic impacts on integrated North American markets," said Ritz. In June, Congress passed the 2008 US Farm Bill requiring the mandatory COOL rule for beef, lamb, pork, chicken and goat meat to be implemented by 30 September. Ritz says trade between the US and Canada, which has tripled since the passage of free trade agreements, could hinder future trade of some commodities. "The government of Canada will continue to work with industry and the provinces and territories to minimise any impact on Canadian farmers and ranchers," said Ritz. "Should the implementation of the rule result in undue restrictions on the exportation of any products or animal from Canada, the government will have to consider its options." www.worldpoultry.net
AMI Website Reflects US Farm Bill Changes The American Meat Institute has unveiled an updated country-of-origin labelling website that informs visitors of changes made in the recently passed 2008 Farm Bill. The site contains a "Frequently Asked Questions" section where meat and poultry companies, as well as the public, can submit questions about the law's implementation. These questions, as well as the answers to the questions, will be edited to protect the anonymity of the sender before they are posted to the website. www.worldpoultry.net Golden Valley Foods Announces Purchase of Sunshine Eggs Golden Valley Foods Ltd. of Abbotsford, BC, has announced the purchase of the egg distribution business of Sunshine Eggs from Kamloops, BC, effective August 15, 2008. Sunshine Eggs is an established and respected egg grader located in the Okanagan region of BC, serving primarily local retailers, wholesalers and the food service industry. Golden Valley Foods Ltd. has been servicing the BC food industry with a variety of quality shell and processed egg products since 1950. This purchase will allow for further expanding Golden Valley’s egg distribution business into the dynamic and growing market of the Okanagan in BC.
Egg Grading Machine for Sale in BC A Diamond 8200 egg grading machine with 8 packers is available in BC for sale price of $75,000. Please contact Amyn Alibhai at Tel: 604.525.3875 or E-mail: a.alibhai@telus.net.
Conferences, Courses and Workshops
Registration for the event is available through the CMC website: English http://www.cmc-cvc.com/english/index_e.asp, French http://www.cmc-cvc.com/french/index_f.asp.
With sadness we report that longtime CPEPC member and former board member Walter Metzger passed away peacefully, on Sunday, August 17, 2008 at the age of 82. Walter was president of Metzger Produce and owner of Riverdale Poultry. Along with his partner, Ken Freiburger, they owned and operated KNF Poultry. Walter was involved with a number of local community activities and organizations which he supported. Gary J. Martin, Vice President of Aaron Metzger Ltd. and Riverdale Poultry Express, called Metzger "A great friend, business partner, leader and life long supporter of the Canadian Poultry Industry".
Visitation will be Tuesday August 19, 2008 from 2 – 4 and 7 – 9 p.m.
at the Dreisinger Funeral Home, 62 Arthur St S., Elmira, ON N3B 2M9.
Please call (519) 669-2207 to make a donation or for further
assistance. The funeral will take place Wednesday August 20,
2008 at 11:00 a.m. at Elmira Mennonite Church, 58 Church Street
West, Elmira ON N3B 1N2 Tel: (519) 669-5123
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The Canadian Meat Council together with the American Meat
Institute are holding a one day seminar on September 10th in
Toronto to help Canadian industry and government officials make
sense of the US interim final rule for mandatory country of
origin labelling (COOL) for beef, pork, lamb, chicken, goat
meat, perishable agricultural commodities, peanuts, pecans, ginseng
and macadamia nuts. This IFR has widespread implications for the
Canadian meat industry. The effective date for implementation of
this regulation is September 30, 2008.