Canada Declares Itself to be NAI free

AAFC's New Chief Negotiator

Farm Photos of Birds Wanted for CFIA Biosecurity Campaign

Conferences, Courses and Workshops

CPEPC Summer Hours

Convention Wrap Up

The Moncton convention is now behind us and by all accounts it was a success.  Attendance was down about 10% but that can be attributed to economic conditions and ongoing consolidation within the industry.  The speakers and social functions were very well received and we certainly lucked out on the weather front.  Members have been notified as to how they can access the speaker presentations on the CPEPC website convention page;  if you did not receive the password please contact susanmallet@cpepc.ca.

We will now turn our sights onto next year's convention in Saskatoon.  Members will be greatly surprised by what this booming city has to offer; so plan now to attend.  Mark your calendars – the convention will be held at the Delta Bessborough Hotel June 6-8, 2010.  It will be the 60th anniversary of Council; so count yourself in and plan to be there.  Watch the CPEPC website as details for the 2010 convention fall into place.

Board of Directors Meetings

The Board of Directors met on two occasions during Convention to formally approve Council’s financial statements and budget, accept new members, review our strategic planning process and discuss issues that affect all of Council’s sectors. Directors received the same update given to all processor members in their sectoral meetings regarding the Industry Association Synergy Project and National Farm Products Council’s request to attend sectoral meetings. They approved the work to date to integrate the Egg Sector Business plan into the overall strategic plan for Council and set in motion next steps for review and updates prior to their October meeting. The Board chose Banff as the location for the 2013 Convention and the province of Ontario as the location for 2014 – which was relayed to the membership at the AGM. Directors also elected a new Executive (see below) which was communicated to all attendees at the closing banquet on June 9th.

Chair - Reg Cliche

Vice Chair - Mike Vanderpol

Secretary - René Proulx

Treasurer - Craig Evans

Past Chair - Paul Borg

Canadian Hatchery Federation - Gerry Kennie & Rick Weiss, (Ernie Silveri Alternate)

Egg Grading - Hank Lammers & Bert Harman

Egg Further Processing - Mike Vanderpol & Aaron Kwinter, (Ian McFall Alternate)

Primary Chicken Processing - Reg Cliche & René Proulx, (Lucy McKee Alternate)

Primary Turkey Processing - Craig Evans & Jeff McDowell, (Wayne Urbonas Alternate)

Poultry Further Processing - Craig Richardson & Ed Rodenburg

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Poultry Sector Meeting

Despite difficult financial times, most companies attended this year’s closed poultry sector meeting to discuss issues common to chicken and turkey sectors. In addition to updates from the earlier POTC and Board of Directors' meetings, attendees received updates on CFC & TFC issues. In order to prepare for a BC AI post mortem meeting with CFIA and the Feather Agencies, the protocols, processing issues and follow up surveillance plan were discussed in detail. In addition, members received updates on the Canadian Organic Standards, the Canadian Notifiable AI Surveillance plans for 2010, antimicrobial resistance, animal welfare, the industry product recall insurance program, Council’s strategic plan and the industry association synergy project. The Sector also made a decision on NFPC’s request to attend their meetings.

Turkey Sector Meeting

Turkey members reviewed current and forecast market conditions, concentrating in particular on the May 1st storage stocks (which coincide with the end of TFC’s control period). Attendees received an update from Turkey Market Advisory Committee (TMAC) representatives for all three regions summarizing their constituents’ views on stocks and other market factors, in preparation for an upcoming TMAC conference call. TFC had committed to reviewing their March, 2009 bagged allocation decision once May 1st storage stocks were released.

TFC’s relatively new Supply Policy Committee has proven to be one of the most important that CPEPC members interact with. Processor representatives on that committee gave meeting attendees an update on the most important items that the committee is currently dealing with. Two of these that were discussed in some detail were the interprovincial leasing of quota and the prevention of oversupply of whole bagged birds as it relates to the existing system.

Updates from the turkey TQAC working group, discussion on potential deficiencies of further processed inventory reports and a mandate for staff to gather more market information rounded out a full agenda.

This was Paul Borg's last meeting as Chair of the turkey Sector.  Directors elected Jeff McDowell as the new Turkey Sector Chair.

Chicken Sector Meeting

The chicken sector agenda was focused on the continuing dissatisfaction with the process and results of CFC allocation decisions. The recent allocation decision for A-93 was so outrageous relative to the CPEPC and other downstream sector requests that chicken sector members are exploring all possible options through which to achieve change to the CFC allocation process. An opinion provided by CPEPC legal counsel regarding potential options was reviewed and considered. Further information by members was requested and the determination of action steps remains pending.

A review of market information for A-94 was provided and a preliminary discussion ensued. It was agreed to meet by conference call the following week to finalize the CPEPC A-94 recommendation.

A Special Circumstance Request from the province of British Columbia related to the 2010 Olympics was discussed and a CPEPC position agreed upon in preparation for this agenda item at the July CFC meetings.

René Proulx will become the new Chair of the Chicken Sector replacing Reg Cliche. Reg was elected by the Board of Directors as the new Chair of CPEPC. Reg will continue to be the Chair for Poultry Sector meetings (these meetings deal with issues of concern for both chicken and turkey members).

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Joint Egg Grading / Egg Further Processing Meeting

The two sectors met to review the work of the Conveyance Material Committee which impacts both sectors. The update was well received and the Committee will act on further direction from members. The Committee will meet in the coming weeks to schedule the next steps for the coming months. Egg sector members will be presented with an update at the October joint sector meeting.  Attendees received an update on initiatives within the Egg Sector Business Plan which focuses on goals in six key results areas. They also discussed the integration of the Egg Sector Business plan with the recently revised CPEPC Board of Directors Strategic Plan. They agreed with the next steps and mandate to staff from Council’s Board of Directors to draft a single plan by incorporating the goals from both processes in order to guide CPEPC business activities into the future.

Egg Grading Sector Meeting

The sector meeting was well attended with representatives from the majority of member companies. Reports were provided by egg grading members serving on external committees: Egg Farmers of Canada (EFC) Board of Directors, Canadian Egg Operational Advisory Group, Egg Supply Chain Working Group, EFC’s Nutrition and Marketing Committee and Production Management Committee. Delegates from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and EFC were invited to attend portions of the meeting. CFIA was represented by Judy Scaife, National Egg Program Chief and Kris Jollymore, Atlantic Egg Specialist. CFIA updated members on the current hot topic of sales of ungraded eggs on Vancouver Island, the implementation of the Canadian Organic Standards set for the end of the month and labelling issues. Neil Newland, Chris Wylie and Jacqueline Pease represented EFC to discuss various topics including the on-carton promotion earlier this year.

Egg Further Processing Sector Meeting

Members discussed the lack of progress in contract negotiations with EFC. The Egg Further Processing Industry and EFC have been operating without a contract since the October 31, 2007. There have not been any negotiation meetings since early October 2008. EFC representation was the same as the Egg Grading Sector Meeting. Topics of interest included the Feed Base/Urner-Barry Blend Pricing Project, update on the new Egg Supply Working Group and the invitation made to EFC on participating in the Egg Sectors Conveyance Material Committee. Judy Scaife and Kris Jollymore from CFIA joined in the latter part of the meeting to discuss Health Canada’s opinion paper on the procedures of handling eggs for breaking originating from Salmonella enteritidis. Other CFIA related topics included an update on CPEPC’s request to lower the whole egg solid content.

The Egg Grading and Egg Further Processing sectors will meet next in Ottawa on October 19-21, 2009.

Egg Sectors Open Sectoral Session

On Tuesday morning, the Egg Sectors had the honour of having the United Egg Producers’ President and CEO provide delegates with an insight on the American Egg Industry. Gene Gregory’s presentation started off with the current American pricing for producers and processors. The estimated Cost of Production for a dozen eggs delivered to retail stores is estimated to be 85¢. Eggs in the US are sold 20¢ back of the Urner-Barry quote. Therefore, the quote needs to be $1.05 to break even and higher for a profit. In May 2009, the Urner-Barry’s Midwest Large quote averaged 83¢. Gene Gregory spent a good portion of the presentation illustrating the power of the Animal Rights Activists in the United States. In California, the Proposition 2 vote passed in November 2008 prohibits by 2015 the current practices of raising the approximately 19 million hens used for the California egg production. The Animal Activists groups have now moved their campaign on to other states. Gene is warning that the Canadian egg industry is not immune and that we should be proactive on this portfolio.

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Canadian Hatchery Federation (CHF) Meeting

Prior to the CHF meeting, the leghorn hatcheries held a breakfast meeting to discuss the Se insurance program. The members were provided with an update on the initiative and the recommendations put forward by the PMT working group a few weeks earlier. CHF members continue to express their support of this initiative and further sent a note to the chair of the PMT and the EFC Chairman indicating the support of the program and the PMT recommendations. The CHF leghorn hatchery members are waiting for an EFC Executive meeting indicating their decision on the PMT recommendations in order to move forward with the CHF next steps.

Following the leghorn hatcheries meeting, the Canadian Hatchery Federation (CHF) members, including broiler, turkey and leghorn hatchery representatives from across the country, met to discuss a number of issues. Some of the issues discussed during the "members only" morning session included: CFIA hatchery related issues, such as Compliance Verification System (CVS) and update on a new Chief, Hatchery Inspection Programs; Avian Influenza (AI) and CANAISS; EFC & CHEP updates and market conditions; as well as discussions on an NFPC request and an internal CPEPC project.

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POTC Meeting

Attendance at the POTC meeting in Moncton was slightly lower than normal with a couple of regulars leaving the industry. Congratulations to Larry Binning on his retirement from Cold Springs Farms and also a fond farewell to Bill Van Heeswyk formerly from Maple Lodge Farms. Both Larry and Bill have been part of the core group for many years. Their knowledge and experience will be sorely missed.

POTC enjoyed an atypical, lighter agenda, which permitted some sharing of experiences in hosting FSIS audits in preparation for the visit by US officials this summer. The establishment list has still not been released at the time of drafting this report but establishments who have hosted the audit in the past were able to provide tips for the rest of the group. There was also open discussion about dealing with CFIA’s Compliance Verification System (CVS) and advice for how some companies have established an effective communication system with local CFIA inspectors to discuss issues.

The group was pleased to host CFIA officials Dr. Yves Labbé, Chief of Poultry accompanied by Dr. Peter Scott-Savage, Regional Veterinary Officer from the Atlantic and for the first time Dr. Murio St-Jean, Program Specialist from the Atlantic. Besides an opportunity for industry to exchange ideas, of equal value is the face-to-face exchange between government and industry.

The subject of most concern was the progress of the Poultry Rejection Process (PRP).

In early February, the CFIA Veterinary Union launched a legal injunction against the PRP and the CFIA Executive reacted with an announcement on February 23 that the PRP would be paused temporality with no new pilots to begin until there is a clearer understanding of the PRP within CFIA. Since that time there has been an internal education effort for the CFIA Executive on the evolution of poultry rejection. Additionally, officials in Ottawa, together with legal council have spent long hours preparing documentation in support of the PRP and assurance that it presents no risk to food safety. This documentation is currently before the courts and stakeholders eagerly await the outcome.

POTC will next meet on Monday, October 19 at the Ottawa Delta Hotel.

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AAFC’s new Chief Agriculture Negotiator

Steve Tierney, Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) of Market Industry and Services Branch (MISB) is pleased to announce that M. Gilles Gauthier will be joining MISB on June 29, 2009 as the Chief Agriculture Negotiator and Director General, Regional and Multilateral Trade Policy. M. Gauthier was most recently the Director General of Multilateral Trade Policy, at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). His responsibilities then included the management of all WTO related matters, as well as lead negotiator for non-agriculture market access negotiations at the WTO.

Prior to joining DFAIT in 2006, M. Gauthier was Director of Corporate and Insolvency Law Policy at Industry Canada and held numerous positions in Industry Canada and in the International Branch at Finance Canada. M. Gauthier has also served for four years at the Canadian Mission to the WTO in Geneva during the mid-1990’s.

M. Gauthier brings extensive experience in the international arena, in WTO, NAFTA and GATT negotiations and has served on several WTO dispute settlement panels. He also brings personal experience in agriculture, having grown up on his family’s dairy farm in Quebec.

Canada Declares itself to be NAI free

Dr. Brian Evans, Canada's Chief Veterinary Officer submitted a report to OIE last week informing them of the results of our post BC AI surveillance program. In that report he noted that Canada once again considers itself to be Notifiable AI Free. CPEPC received a copy of Dr. Evan's report, including the excerpts below:

As reported in the previous follow-up report, the cleaning and disinfection of the last infected premises (2009-BC-002) was approved by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on 11 March 2009. In compliance with Article 10.4.3.2, Chapter 10.4 (avian influenza) of the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code (2008), the CFIA has conducted surveillance during the three-month period following stamping out, including cleaning and disinfection. All 15 farms that were still under quarantine on 11 March were retested. In addition, a total of 205 commercial poultry farms (mature chickens, turkeys, ducks and other specialty birds) were randomly selected by CFIA in the province of British Columbia for notifiable avian influenza (NAI) testing. All the samples were tested at the CFIA's National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease (Winnipeg) using cELISA serologic tests, with the exception of 8 farms that were tested at the British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Lands laboratory using PCR on swabs. All the samples were negative for NAI. Therefore, Canada now considers the commercial poultry in the province of British Columbia and in the rest of Canada to be free of notifiable avian influenza.

CPEPC will work with CFIA as we engage systematically with trading partners to remove any bans on product from Canada, BC or the zone within the Fraser Valley.

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Farm Photos of Birds Wanted for CFIA Biosecurity Campaign

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is collecting pictures of Canadian livestock, poultry and aquaculture for a national campaign which will highlight healthy animals and the value of using biosecurity practices to safeguard the health of Canadian livestock.  Companies that would like to submit pictures for possible inclusion in the 2009-2010 leg of the campaign, which  includes a nationally distributed calendar for 2010, brochure and other materials, are asked to contact Ashley Jackson, Communications Advisor, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, at ashley.jackson@inspection.gc.ca or Tel: 613-773-5442 / Cell : 613-282-6597.  Deadline to submit is July 3.

Conferences, Courses and Workshops

Please contact Blaise Ouattara at 613 729-3911 x 23 or blaiseo@cmc-cvc.com for information or to register.

CPEPC Summer Hours

The CPEPC office will close at noon on Fridays from June 12 through Sept. 4.  As in previous years senior staff will be available on their cell phones and Blackberry for things that require immediate attention.

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