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CFC December Meeting

Chicken Farmers of Canada's final meeting of 2009 was held on December 16 in Ottawa.  The domestic allocation for period A-97 (March 28 - May 22, 2010) was established during these meetings at Base plus 2.0 percent or 151.0 mkgs along with 9.4 mkgs for Market Development production.  The domestic allocation represents an increase of 2.6 percent over actual production during the same weeks of 2009.  The CPEPC had recommended an allocation of Base plus 1 percent as history over the past several years shows the market is growing at just over 1 percent on average and in consideration of A-96 being set above this level at Base plus 2 percent.  The CPEPC Directors on the CFC Board voted against the allocation decision.

CPEPC presented a proposal to move forward the issue regarding the establishment of a “healthy range” for Processor Margin for use on the Report Card.  CFC Directors will be considering the CPEPC proposal and this matter is to be discussed again at the February CFC meeting.  The policy allowing for interprovincial purchases of product for use in meeting Market Development obligations was extended but only to A-101.  At that time a full review of the Market Development Program is to be completed.

Discussion on development of a differential growth policy also continued.  During the discussions some provinces declared they could not support any of the options that had been developed to date with some provinces going so far as to suggest they would not support differential growth of any kind. Notwithstanding, it was decided that CFC staff will undertake a further round of consultation with the provinces and bring a report back to the February meeting in order to exhaust every opportunity to determine if there might be a path forward which all provinces could support.

Public Works Reviews Its Food and Beverage Procurement Strategy

Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), which annually purchases approximately $100M of food and beverages for federal government departments, is undertaking a review to improve overall performance in the procurement of these items with the Food and Beverage Background National Commodity Review.  Changes to the strategy could affect CPEPC member companies which supply food commodities to the federal government.  The Letter of Interest is being published for an eight week period on the Government Electronic Tendering Service (GETS) http://www.merx.com  under Solicitation E6TOR-09FOOD/A in order to receive feedback on the approach and allow an opportunity for industry to make suggestions.  CPEPC has sent the Letter of Interest and Summary of the Food and Beverage Proposed National Strategy to all food supplying members.  Responses should be directed to the e-mail address alimentation.food@pwgsc-tpsgc.gc.ca by no later than 20 January 2010.

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Pilgrim's Pride To Emerge From Bankruptcy

The US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas has approved the amended joint plan of reorganization of Pilgrim's Pride and 6 of its subsidiaries that are debtors and debtors in possession (the Debtors) in the Chapter 11 cases pending before the court.

Following a court hearing held on 8 December in Ft. Worth, Judge D. Michael Lynn entered an order confirming the amended plan of reorganization, paving the way for the Debtors to exit bankruptcy later this month. Pilgrim's Pride said that it expects to emerge from bankruptcy before the end of December.

In September, the Debtors filed a joint plan of reorganization and related disclosure statement with the court. Under terms of the joint plan of reorganization, Pilgrim's Pride has entered into an agreement to sell 64% of the new common stock of the reorganized Pilgrim's Pride to JBS U.S.A. for US$800 mln in cash. The completion of the transaction is subject to the closing of an exit facility for senior secured financing in an aggregate principal amount of up to $1.75 bln, certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

 - from worldpoultry.net article

New Brunswick Chicken

The provincial government is to decide where New Brunswick's chickens will be processed in future, and it will be locally. The New Brunswick government will give itself the power to pick where poultry is processed, according to CBC. Agriculture Minister, Ronald Ouellette, said on 8 December that he will proclaim a law that gives him the authority to decide where New Brunswick-grown chickens are processed. That move will ensure that locally raised chickens will go to the Nadeau poultry plant in St-François, near Edmundston in north-western New Brunswick. Mr Ouellette told the legislative assembly that he had no choice after farmer groups in Ontario and Quebec blocked their chickens from being exported to Nadeau. He said: "I will be seeking government approval that Bill 81 be proclaimed in order to protect New Brunswick's industry from the potential detrimental impacts of the decision taken by the Chicken Farmers of Ontario and the Régie des Marchés Agricoles et Alimentaires de Québec."

The New Brunswick legislature passed the poultry processing law in June 2009 but the cabinet never put it into effect. The law was deemed necessary as Quebec-based Groupe Westco moved to buy New Brunswick chickens and have them processed outside of the province.

CBC reports that the agriculture minister said in June 2009 – when the legislation was first introduced – that he was concerned Westco's actions could drive the existing Nadeau plant out of business, and that the legislation would allow for a cooling-off period between the companies.

Groupe Westco had announced it was joining forces with Quebec-based Olymel to build a new slaughterhouse in northern New Brunswick. In December 2007, Westco said that it wanted to start moving some chickens to a Quebec-based processing plant while building a new facility in Clair, New Brunswick.

Earlier this year, both the Competition Bureau of Canada and the New Brunswick Court of Appeal refused to block the export of New Brunswick chickens to Westco's Quebec plant.

Nadeau responded by trying to import excess chicken from Ontario and Quebec to its plant, a move that has now been thwarted by the chicken producers in those provinces.

Nadeau Poultry Farm announced in August that it was laying off 175 of the 340 people employed at its Maple Lodge near Edmundston because of the poultry dispute, concludes the CBC report.

- from thepoultrysite.com article

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Meyn Introduces Whole Leg Deboner

In order to fulfill the increasing demands for high capacity leg deboning, Meyn has introduced the new WLD whole leg deboner. The Meyn WLD semi-automatically processes left and right anatomical legs with or without skin at a capacity of 3,000 legs per hour.

Features of the Meyn WLD are as follows:

- A large flexibility as the system can handle left and right legs with or without skin simultaneously.

- Unrivalled capacity in a compact operation.

- Whole leg fillets of an outstanding quality and optimum yield.

- A system that is easy to adjust and maintain.

(Meyn is a member of CPEPC and for further information readers are invited to contact Meyn Canada Vice President and GM Mr. Kamy Motalleb at E-mail kamy@meyncanada.com or Tel: 416 319-2374)

- based on www.worldpoultry.net article

Bernard Matthews Farms Pioneers Silver Protection for Live Haul Crates

Bernard Matthews Farms, the largest turkey farming company in Britain, is pioneering a new silver antimicrobial protection on its transportation crates to shield its poultry flocks from a wide range of pathogens. With biosecurity and bird health a key priority at Bernard Matthews Farms, the BioCote® protected poultry crates from Anglia Autoflow Ltd have been chosen for their proven effectiveness in helping reduce the risk of pathogen cross-contamination.

The crates already undergo a thorough decontamination process between uses. However, in trials for Anglia Autoflow, the BioCote-protected crates demonstrated a significant reduction in any remaining pathogen load. This effectiveness was sustainable throughout the repeated cycle of the crates, from contact with flocks, through the decontamination process to re-contact with the flocks. Bernard Matthews Farms Head of UK Technical Operations, Herluf Thun-Rasmussen said: "The antimicrobial protection continues to work for the lifetime of the crate, helping us further improve the bio-security cycle when returning clean trays back to farms for bird collection.

Steve Dennett, Anglia Autoflow's business development manager, added: "Our trials suggest there are a number of benefits of incorporating BioCote® into poultry transportation crates to help meet the objective of reducing pathogen load, and we're delighted that Bernard Matthews Farms recognize the value of antimicrobial protection and have embraced this new technology so quickly." BioCote technology has a proven track record in the healthcare sector and is based on silver, which is a safe, natural antimicrobial, commonly used in wound dressings and surface-coated catheters to reduce the risk of infection. BioCote inhibits the growth of a wide range of bacteria on the surface of products, making them cleaner and more hygienic to use. BioCote Ltd works with a growing number of manufacturers supplying the food-processing sector to incorporate this cutting edge technology into their products at the manufacturing stage. Silver can be incorporated into a variety of materials including plastics, fabrics, paints, powder coatings and papers.

www.thepoultrysite.com

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Fairer Deals In Future For U.S. Growers

An advocacy group has welcomed new regulations for U.S. growers covering their contracts with poultry processors.

Fayetteville Observer reports that the regulations from the US Department of Agriculture, issued earlier this month, require processors to provide written contract offers before farmers invest in new poultry houses, according to Rural Advancement Foundation International USA, a Pittsboro-based advocacy group. Contract poultry farmers invest their own money to build and upgrade poultry barns to processor specifications. A typical chicken house costs $300,000 to build. Most processors encourage growers to build at least four houses, for an investment of more than $1 million. The rules allow farmers to discuss contract offers with government agencies, family members, business associates and others before signing a contract. If farmers are put on an improvement plan by a processor, they must be told why, what steps will be taken to help them improve, and how they can regain good standing. "I'm glad that USDA is taking action to protect growers," Cameron farmer, Kay Doby, said in a RAFI news release.  Becky Ceartas, RAFI's director of contract agriculture reform, said the rules increase fairness and transparency. "Before farmers make the financial commitment to build poultry facilities on their farms, they need to know exactly what's expected and what the terms of that arrangement will be," said Ms Ceartas. "An informed farmer can make better decisions, and that benefits everyone."

- from thepoultrysite.com article

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