Using Chicken to Rape the Ontario Consumer

Has CFO crossed the line into unacceptable behaviour again?  OFPMC is supposed to supervise the actions of CFO and others.  Has OFPMC encouraged CFO's bad behaviour, or turned a blind eye towards it?

In a previous post (see Chicken Pricing: From Bad to Worse), I pointed out the consequences of the latest "improvement" in regulations issued by Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission ("OFPMC").

Today, I sent CFO and OFPMC an email asking for the missing information, and for them to explain their actions.

It escapes me how anybody could call the new system for setting the live farm gate chicken prices in Ontario to be an "improvement" over the previous system.  Today, we have more complexity, less transparency, and more opportunity for arbitrary action.

Agri007 picked up my original Blog posting, and added some interesting detail on the added complexity and bureaucratic bafflegab.

As to the arbitrariness, note in Section 18.(2) of ON Regulation 402 (as amended by O. Reg 6/15),  which says:

"CP means the live chick price for sexed mixed chicks established by the Ontario Broiler Hatching Egg and Chick Commission for each quota period, expressed in dollars per kilogram of live chicken, and adjusted as necessary by the negotiating agency each quota period" [emphasis added by me]

Under Section 17 of this Regulation, CFO and their "friend" AOCP (Association Ontario Chicken Processors, the multi-millionaire Big Food owners of the major chicken slaughtering plants and distribution systems) both sit on the "negotiating agency". 

The same arbitrary latitude is given to the Chicken Mafia (ie. CFO, AOCP, and all their henchmen) for the "FP" (Feed Price) factor that is the prime factor that controls live farm gate pricing of chicken.

Exactly how and why should the Chicken Mafia "adjust" the CP and FP?

What limits exist for adjusting?  Is +/- 1% or +/- 300% adjustment OK, or somewhere in between?


Does the Chicken Mafia have to tell anybody when they have been privately fiddling with the numbers?

Does the public (or other interested parties such as Small Flockers or Affordable Food Advocates) get an alert when the Chicken Mafia has been playing fast and loose with the farm gate prices?

Are there improper reasons for the Chicken Mafia to adjust these price fixing factors?

It is obvious to me that it's the public, the end consumer and purchaser of the chicken, who ultimately pays the bills for anything that the "negotiating agency" decides.

Am I the only one on this planet who understands the sad yet shocking truth?  CFO and AOCP are not adversaries, they are in cahoots with each other.  There can be no "fair bargain" when both CFO and AOCP work together to screw the Ontario consumer.  Both CFO and AOCP realize that if they mutually co-operate with each other, their profits will be maximized; all paid for by the Ontario consumer.  When CFO and AOCP co-operate with each other, the price of chicken in Ontario rises faster and the choice available to consumers diminishes.

The analogy that applies to ON Regulation 402 and its "negotiating agency" is as follows:

The Mafia Don has instructed two of his henchmen to negotiate the agreed split of the loot that they will rob from every house and business in town.  After very tough negotiations, the robbers decided amongst themselves to split the loot 60-40, a fair split the robbers decide, as it recognizes the greater skill and years of experience by the lead robber.  Shaking hands on their deal, the two robbers then set out to burglarize every building in town and split the proceeds 60-40 as they have privately agreed.  The Mafia Don is happy because his cut of the loot is maximized.  The robbers are both happy because they each have help with all the heavy lifting they must do as they rob everybody in town, and one can be the lookout for the other, ensuring the authorities never interfere.  Unfortunately, the innocent townspeople are preyed upon to the maximum, because the thieves have organized themselves and rob in an efficient manner with no in-fighting.

Why doesn't OFPMC understand that they have guaranteed maximum damage and oppression to the Ontario consumers of chicken by their crazy regulation?

Will somebody stop OFPMC, CFO, and AOCP from their dysfunctional system and the systemic abuse of the Ontario public?

At the top of this Blog page, SFPFC says, "...Small Flockers are on the side of justice & truth, and against privilege & power."

SFPFC can't do it alone.  Will somebody help stop this organized raping of the Ontario public? 

The Plan

Here is my plan for myself and my community until we can get the abusive Supply Management regulations changed, declared illegal, or unconstitutional.

On my farm, I continue to raise my 99 laying chickens, and provide fresh, ungraded farm eggs to my community every day.  I still have my 1 (one) meat chicken as a token bird, so that I meet on an ongoing basis the definition of a chicken farmer.  This enable me to complain about the actions of Chicken Farmers of Ontario ("CFO") while my wife and I eat our way through our freezer full of our previous meat birds I produced but were unable to sell under current Small Flock Regulations.  I also have ducks, geese, turkeys, goats, and livestock guardian dogs.

I have filed a request for reconsideration of the OMAFRA Tribunal's decision on my appeal against Chicken Farmers of Ontario ("CFO").

Asking the fox to reconsider his decision to eat one of my chickens has little chance of success, but it is a mandatory step in the long, twisted bureaucratic process of Supply Management.

Under CFO's Small Flock Regulation No. 2484-2014, Section 1.(j) states a Small Flock Grower is a person, and each person can grow 300 birds per year.  Under Ontario law, corporations are persons, equal to flesh and blood persons.

I attended the recent seminar sponsored by Practical Farmers of Ontario , and heard Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms speak.  Using mobile facilities as recommended by him, I can move my entire free range meat bird operation in an afternoon from one lot to another if I need to.

Therefore I'm making plans to rent (via 2 separate companies) 2 small patches of agricultural land from other farmers/owners, and those companies will have exclusive first rights to raise chickens on those farm lots.  With my own farm, that will give me 3 separate lots.  With 3 farm lots at 300 birds per lot, is 900 meat birds in total; totally in compliance under the current Supply Management rules for Small Flocks.  These 900 meat birds will nicely serve the needs for safe, nutritious, affordable, and locally produced chicken in my local community.

Unfortunately, Section 21 of the Reg. says CFO can change the Small Flock Regulation any time they please.  I am confident that CFO will harass me and others who dare to try this plan, or CFO will invent crazy definitions and twist the interpretation of their Small Flock Regulation so as to make my plan be prohibited, or arbitrarily and unilaterally change the CFO Regulation so that my plan is expressly banned.

You might conclude that I do not have much faith or trust in CFO.

I don't.

CFO has a valuable monopoly to protect.  CFO's members are all multi-millionaires, but they wish to become billionaires.  Many of CFO members have slowly become trapped puppets who are controlled by Big Ag.

Therefore CFO will likely do anything necessary to protect their monopoly, and achieve the goals of their members and Big Ag.

I believe CFO intends to continue violating the civil rights of small flock farmers, and using CFO's monopoly as a weapon against consumers.


If there are other like minded persons who want to help implement this interim plan, or work co-operatively to prepare for CFO's retaliatory strike against all those who consider implementing this plan, please leave your comments, or contact me in private.

Pharaoh Kathleen Wynne: Let my people go!

Ontario's Premier and Agriculture Minister Kathleen Wynne has challenged Ontario's agriculture, food, and beverage sector to double its agri-foods exports by 2020.

Her government's press release notes that the agri-food sector has grown by a little more than 10% since 2002.  In 11 years, that's an average annual growth rate of 0.87% per year.

That's pretty weak performance, I'd say.  However, we have to admit that 6 of those years were through one of the biggest economic shocks since the Great Depression in the 1930's.

If we are going to double again between now and 2020, just 7 years from now, that would be an average growth rate of 10.41% per year.

Interesting!

China, the world's greatest exporter, and their historic
GDP quarterly growth, 2007 - 2013

The graph at the right from Trading Economics shows what China achieved in their GDP annualized quarterly growth rate.  As most people know, China has been one of the world's most powerful exporters in the last decade.

China's arithmetical average GDP growth over this period was 9.08%/yr, and the geometric average (probably a more useful statistic than the simple arithmetical average) was 8.96%/yr.

After recovering from the world-wide Great Recession in 2007, China had its very best GDP growth of 11.9% during Q2 of 2010.

Realize also that these results were produced only because China's government was laser beam focused on manufacturing and exporting, regardless of the environmental, health, safety, or social risks that this focus may have caused.

So our Premier wants us  to achieve growth in exports equal or better than the world records set by China when the world economy was booming.  Very interesting!

Growth is always a risky period for a business, as you have significantly higher costs for months or years, and you have to hope and pray that that huge investment in money and people can be recouped before something changes.

What happens if an ag-food business decides to take on this challenge for the good of Ontario, and the government changes its mind half way towards the goal, or a new government is elected and the policy changes?  You would be left high and dry, and nobody would come to rescue you.

Under the Green Energy Act, people got a guaranteed, no cut contract for 20 years, and about a 12% return on their investment.  What is the ag-food sector being offered?

Ontario's Premier has proposed this challenge to the ag-food industry, but it seems she neither offered nor provided any resources or plan with which to accomplish this challenging goal.

Just how dumb does she think farmers are?

However, for the sake of politeness, we will set aside for the moment any concerns about the advisability of this goal, or the potential of creating a severe overbuild of ag-food capacity (just like the Ontario government created in their electrical energy production system via the rapid priority shift via the Green Energy Act), or the social costs, or the inefficiencies created by last minute 90 degree turns in government policy.

In the interest of helping and supporting the Premier's goal, Small Flockers would like to offer a suggestion to the Premier of Ontario:

Pharaoh Kathleen Wynne,
Premier for the Province of Ontario, Canada

Pharaoh Wynne:   Let my people go!



I don't want the job of Moses leading his people out of Egypt from the oppression of the cruel Pharaoh, but neither did Moses when God called him to the task. Unlike Moses, I didn't even get the call.

However in Jan. 2012, I became concerned about some of the government policies and actions affecting small flock farmers, so I spoke up and asked for changes. Since then, I've learned that it's far worse than the relatively small issues that got me started on this quest. Now, as I learn more and more, I'm becoming more and more pissed off at all the craziness that has been going on for decades.

In a previous Blog posting, I suggested that the current Supply Management system be re-directed to focus on exports, and small flockers need to be freed up to supply the local domestic market in Ontario.

Today, Ontario has a debt of $252 Billion.  We pay $10.6 Billion per year in interest on that debt, rising at 5.5% per year.  Debt interest is now the 3rd. largest item on the provincial budget.

Enabling Ontario's small flockers can provide a significant part of the necessary hope and plan for getting Ontario the extra jobs it needs, the economic stability to get the huge provincial debt paid down, and eliminate Ontario's $9.2 Billion/yr deficit.

Small flockers have been badly wounded by severe wing clipping done to us by the Government and the Chicken Mafia over the past 3 decades. I believe there is still a spark within Ontario's small flockers that can be fanned and nurtured back into a vibrant roaring fire to warm Ontario's economy.

Let my people go, Pharaoh Wynne! Let us help you to help all of Ontario. Let small flockers supply safe, nutritious, affordable, locally grown poultry meats and eggs for our family, friends, and neighbours.

Small Flockers have suffered decades
of abuse at the hands of these two
co-conspirators

As an example, let's look at what Ontario has already done to create province-wide freedom.  In April 2008, Ontario used the Green Energy Act to pass Regulation 97/08 which now prohibits the banning of clotheslines for the drying of laundry by most building owners, condominiums, subdivision land covenants, or municipal bylaw. That broke 50 years of wrong-headed precedence to look "pretty" in spite of the cost and rights violations that had slowly creped into our society.

Ontario should now do a similar regulatory rationalization and standardization across Ontario for backyard poultry, in both municipal and rural areas.

Small Flockers suggest that if  municipalities insist on continuing restrictions for backyard poultry, then the municipality must show cause for any restrictions it imposes (ie. the burden of proof that the restrictions are necessary rests on the municipality), and those restrictions would have to be renewed every 5 years or they would automatically terminate.

For farmers, the Chicken Mafia and the Government need to release their death grip on the throats of small flock poultry farmers.

Small Flockers are currently prohibited from raising more than 300 birds per year.  That limit needs to be immediately raised to 2,000 chickens per year without quota.

The government must also relax the Meat Regulations so that on-farm poultry processing can occur in a safe manner; especially in remote and under serviced areas where there is no local government-approved abattoir that does custom processing.

Premier, let my people go, and you might be surprised at how close you come to your ag. doubling goal by 2020.

Paul Robeson (1898 - 1976), African-American
  Lawyer, Actor, All-American Football Player,Social Activist, and Singer.

Oh! Let My People Go

The Lord, by Moses, to Pharaoh said:
Oh! let my people go.

If not, I'll smite your first-born dead—
Oh! let my people go.

Oh! go down, Moses,

Away down to Egypt's land,

And tell King Pharaoh

To let my people go.