Selling Your Chickens

Dear Small Flockers:

We are an artisanal farmer who grew chicken last year. We still have quite a bit of chicken left that we processed in November. They were grown free range and on a vegetable based feed. They average 4.5 lbs dressed and they are frozen and whole in vacuum packaging. 

Do you know of anyone looking for free range chicken?

We are just deciding how much to grow this year. Any help would be appreciated. 

Thanks,

Dear Artisanal Chicken Farmer:

Thanks for contacting me.

When CFO announced the Artisanal Chicken program, I had a tough decision to make:  stay Small Flock, or become an Artisanal Chicken farmer.  Everybody told me the customers would beat a path to my door, so I applied for and was authorized to raise 3,000 chickens last year, the max. available.

I decided to do grass pastured, free range chickens as I feel this is the best opportunity, the type of chickens people want the most, people are willing to pay a premium price, and have much less competition with the commercial, factory farm chickens that are sometimes sold as a "lost leader" in grocery stores (as low as $1.49 per lb).  Statistics Canada reports the average fresh whole chicken retail price in Ontario in 2015 is $6.69/kg ($3.04/lb).  The average price for 2016 was $6.59/kg ($3.00 per lb.), down an average of 4.03% per year.

In my home town market, the historic market leader for commercial, locally grown barn raised chickens are raised and sold at $3.85/lb in 2016.  I decided to sell our chickens at $4.50/lb, then backed off to $3.85/lb for fresh, never frozen (only available the 2 days after we go to the abattoir).  I now sell frozen chickens at $4.50/lb due to the higher cost to freeze and store them long term.  In Ottawa, they sell grass pastured whole chickens at $6.00/lb. in retail stores.

When I ask other Artisanal Chicken farmers: "Is it tougher to grow them, or sell them?", everybody agrees selling is the tougher nut to crack.

Unfortunately, I too have many chickens raised in 2016 that I still need to sell.  When I calculate that my first flock was available to sell in June 2016, and the last was November 2016, and my next flock thereafter will only be ready in June 2017, so there is a 7 month hibernation when frozen chicken must supply the local demand.  At the rate of sale from June to Nov. 2016, if I project that same rate for the 7 months of winter 2016-2017, I come very close to 3,000 chickens total that will be sold.  That calculation suggest that my freezers will run empty just as the first flock of 2017 is ready to go to the abattoir.  Therefore, maybe I shouldn't worry.

However, projections to the future are very inaccurate.  Rather than trust in this bare hope for the future, I suggest a proactive approach.

Here are some ideas to get your Artisanal chickens sold (* marks the ones I have personally done or tried to do for my farm):

1. * Local radio station spot ads
2. * Google Adwords ads
3. * Internet website
4. * Internet Blog postings (daily or weekly)
5. * Facebook
6. * Twitter
7. * Local newspaper ads
8. * Letters to Editor for local newspaper
9. Op-Ed article in local newspaper
10. * Year-round "farmers markets".
11. * Local seasonal Farmer's Markets and other rural markets
    
12. * Local butcher shops
13. * Convenience stores
14. * Local restaurants
15. * Local hotel restaurants & conference centres
16. Banquet halls
    
17. * Catering companies
18. * Grocery Stores
19. Wedding planners and their clients
20. * Abattoirs that have retail/wholesale meat shops attached thereto
21. * Meat wholesalers
22. * Halal community (must be decided before abattoir, and killed in conformity thereto)
23. * Kosher community (must be decided before abattoir, and killed in conformity thereto; much more demanding than Halal, needs Kosher certification by COR or equivalent)
24. * On-line Internet Marketing
25. * CSA (Community Support Agriculture)
26. * Food Hubs
27. * Organic food stores
28. * Local food stores
29. Farmer Co-ops
30. Community presentations at local halls where you invite the public to learn about sustainable farming, then sample your roasted chicken, and can place an order
31. * Partner with a local appliance store for a 10%+ discount for your customers to buy a freezer to store their own food, then fill it with your produce.
32. Home food delivery route
33. Buy a used propane fired convection oven, put it in an enclosed utility trailer, find a grid of sites (every compass point) around your farm where you can go to sell roast chicken (whole roasted chicken to take home, or 1/4 chicken dinners for one person), advertise that you will be at that site on a regular basis arranged in a sequence that doesn't rob customers today from where you will be next time.  Start small so you are sure to sell out, or you can eat your unsold product excess (or sell it as frozen cubed chicken pieces for chicken Caesar salads or stir frys).  Record the time of each sale.  As soon as you sell out, leave a sign that late arriving customers know they missed out, call this # to reserve a chicken for next week, and head home with your cash.  Based on your sale rate, estimate how many chickens you can sell in a reasonable time on location.
34. Food truck selling quarter chicken dinners at local fairs, hockey tournaments, and other events.
35. * Canada Post flyer advertising a chicken sale with the coupon flyer
36. * Enter your info for free into SFPFC's chicken farmer database, so customers can easily find you (see http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.ca/p/small-flockers-database.html )
37. Other

Perhaps Arisanal Chicken Farmers (and/or Small Flock Chicken Farmers) can work co-operatively on solving this marketing challenge.

I ask everybody, Small Flockers and Artisanal Chicken Farmers, to use the comments section below to share their favorite sales & marketing method, or comment on the above.

Small Flock Exemption Q&A

Anna, a wanna-be Small Flocker has some questions, and isn't getting the answers from the Chicken Mafia.  Finally, she contacted somebody who cares and answers promptly to the best of their knowledge.  Here is Anna's question:

Good Morning,

I've been trying to email the Ontario Agricultural Ministry but they're not really getting back to me with a question I had and I was hoping that maybe you could help clarify.

 I know the limit if 300 meat chickens per farm per year, but my question is what qualifies as a 'farm'? Does this mean your are limited to 300 birds per farmer or individual adult, or per physical address? Can you have two separate operations leasing land on the same physical address with 300 birds each? (Taxes and operations completely separate) Or can I act as manager for 3 different farms at separate physical locations with 300 birds each?

Thanks so much for all of your help!

My understanding of the important & relevant parts of CFO's (Chicken Farmers of Ontario) Small Flock Regulation are as follows:

Section 1.f says:

“Premises” means  a  parcel  or  lot  of  real  property  as  identified  by  a Property Identification  Number or, in the absence thereof, by another legal description by lot and/or   parcel   number   or   similar legal description   or   by   other   appropriate description using metes and bounds coordinates including the buildings existing on such  real property upon  which  chicken  is  produced  and  from  which  chicken is marketed by a Small Flock Grower;

Section 1.j says:

“Small Flock Grower” means a person registered with the Board and permitted by the Board to produce and market no more than 300 chickens on an annual basis while being exempted from the requirement of being allotted a quota by the Board for the producing and marketing of chicken;

Section 8 says:

"No more than 300 chickens may be produced by the Small Flock Grower in each calendar year."

Section 9 says:

"Once a premises has been utilized for the production of chicken in accordance with this regulation in  a  calendar  year,  it  may  not  be used  again for  such  purpose  by  the Small Flock Grower or any other person until the following calendar year."

CFO are the ones who passed this regulation, and are the ones who define, interpret it, and if they so choose, lay charges under that regulation.  The Courts will then decide if CFO's interpretation is the correct one.  CFO decides if you will be hassled, so in the frustration factor, their opinion, whether dysfunctional or not, is important to understand.

Therefore there seems to be two (2) limitations:

• the Small Flock Grower
• the Premises used

Each Small Flock Grower is limited to 300 birds per year.  Each Premise is limited to 300 birds.  Since CFO controls their database, they can choose who and how a "person" is defined.


For example:

1. A corporation is generally defined as a legal "person".  Does CFO follow this definition?  If you incorporate a company under Ontario law (eg. 123456 Ontario Ltd.) and you are the sole owner of that corporation, can that corporation have 300 birds/yr, and you personally have 300 birds/yr too if you and the corporation use separate premises?
   
   
2. Under Ontario's Planning Act, real property lots adjacent to each other will automatically merge to one property when the ownersof the two lots are the same person.  That owner must get special permission to subsequently separate those lots back into two separate lots.  This doesn't happen if Lot 1 (adjacent to both Lot 1 and Lot 2) is owned by "Bill Smith", Lot 2 (adjacent to both Lot 1 and Lot 3) is owned by "Bill and Mary Smith", and Lot 3 (adjacent to both Lot 1 and 2) is owned by "Mary Smith"; whether or not Bill and Mary are spouses, brother & sister, or total strangers.  Can this legal concept be used for "Small Flock Grower" definition, and Premises ownership?
   

The answers to these specific situations for CFO and their Small Flock Regulation is unclear in the regulation.

CFO (Chicken Farmers of Ontario) are the ones who passed this regulation, and are the ones who define, interpret it, and if they so choose, lay charges under that regulation.  The Courts will then decide if CFO's interpretation is the correct one.

CFO decides if a Small Flocker will be hassled, so the Small Flocker's frustration factor is highly dependent upon the mindset of CFO, regardless of CFO being right or wrong.

That is a clear sign of arbitrary law, and bad regulation.

Request Tribunal's Reconsideration

I am planning to request the Tribunal to re-consider its decision to dismiss my appeal as frivolous, vexatious, and bad faith.

The Tribunal ruled on Sept. 24th, 2014 that my appeal for the rights and freedoms of Small Flockers would be summarily dismissed before any of the issues could come to trial (see Blog posting  Case Dismissed: The Appeal Tribunal has Spoken).

I have just finished the draft, and look forward to your feedback and suggestions to improve this draft before submission to the OMAFRA Appeals Tribunal.  Here is the draft:

Request for Re-Consideration  16 pages   49.8 kB

I have until close of business on Friday Oct. 24th to get it submitted, so we don't have much time.

I appreciate your effort to find the time to carefully read it and share your ideas.

Small Flock Cost of Production ("COP")

The skeptics at BetterFarming wanted my COP (Cost Of Production) info, as they don't believe that Small Flockers can compete (nor should they be allowed to compete) against the SM Chicken Mafia.

I present this data on a break-even basis, so the debate of a "reasonable profit level" is removed.

Here is the data (Data Revised: 2014/05/30 11:07 Hrs.), updated from the previous version,

Figure1:  Comparison of Small Flocker Cost Of Production ("COP")
for various flock sizes

In Figure 1, the blue vertical bars show the break-even cost of the eviscerated chicken meat produced on a $/kg basis by me, a Small Flock farmer.  Break-even means there is no profit margin included in these costs.

If Ontario's millionaire SM Chicken Mafia must be allowed to earn a "reasonable profit", should small flockers be allowed to earn a reasonable profit?

If yes, what should that reasonable profit be?

Note that as the flock size increases, the cost on a $/kg basis drops dramatically.  At 2,000 birds per year, it is almost equal to the April 2014 retail prices of $4.37/kg.

Speaking with some local abattoirs that process chicken in Northern Ontario, I was informed that their small flock farmer customers generally charge $8.25/kg (ie. $3.75 per lb.) for fresh, eviscerated chicken sold at farm gate.

The red horizontal line shows $4.37/kg which is the typical April 2014 retail price for chicken in Ontario.

The green horizontal line shows the typical price for small flock chicken at the farm gate in Northern Ontario ($8.25/kg).

The purple horizontal line is the average US chicken price in Mid-West, as reported by US Bureau of Labor Statistics converted to $CA at the average exchange rate in April 2014 ($CA 0.9099 per $US 1.00) as reported by Bank of Canada.

Most economists will also compare pricing on a "marginal cost" basis.  This is where the producer is already making "X" units per year, but has the opportunity to sell just one additional unit.  What does that one additional unit cost to make?  I have not yet done that analysis.

In Figure 2, the detailed cost breakdown is provided for my operation at the average flock size of 57 birds per year.

Figure 2:   COP Breakdown for flock size of 57 Birds (Average Small Flock size in 2013, per CFO)

Note that due to the small flock size, and the long distance to the nearest abattoir that does custom poultry processing, the slaughter process adds an additional 30.03% to the cost structure.  This is a 378 km round trip for me, adding significant costs of transport, whether I carry 1 bird or 300 birds.

Hopefully this explains why I need the 2,000 bird limit if I want to supply safe, nutritious, affordable, locally produced chicken for my remote community.

Other small flockers have similar challenges, but may have significantly different cost structures.

In Figure 3 is a summary table of the various fresh, whole, retail chicken prices, and a comparison between the different prices:

Figure 3:  Summary table of retail chicken prices, fresh whole chicken, April 2014

Based on these data, will you support our cause to get the increase from 300 to 2,000 birds per year on what CFO permits Small Flockers to raise?

TV Interview Opportunities for Small Flockers

Rebecca Thompson, Sun News Network

Ms. Rebecca Thompson, Sun News Network correspondent did a TV interview of  me today at their offices in Toronto.

Rebecca would like to get some video footage at a small flock poultry farm to add to the story, and interview the farmer on-camera.

Since I am 14 hrs round trip from the Toronto, it isn't practical for Sun News Network to do the interview at my small flock farm. 

The small flock farmer needs to be in or near Toronto.  Rebecca will be in Ottawa next week, then Windsor in early January, so those locations, or some place near Hwy. 401 along the way could be possible too.

You will need to go on the record, and/or will be recognized on TV.  Realize that this will expose you, front and centre to the #ChickenMafia , the Chicken Police, and other authorities.  There is some small but significant risk of revenge, or abuse of power against you by these authorities down the road.  After all, you will be speaking out against the #ChickenMafia

If you are considering this opportunity to help the Small Flockers' cause, or have some questions about how this video interview would work, or would be willing to do the interview under some other terms & conditions, you can anonymously call me or email me so we can discuss it.

Alternatively, you can speak directly with Rebecca.  Here is her contact info:

REBECCA THOMPSON 
Sun News Network Contributor
t 416.601.0010 x5832 | c 647.282.6171 | rebecca.thompson@sunmedia.ca 
25 Ontario Street, Toronto, ON M5A 4L6 
www.sunnewsnetwork.ca | follow me on twitter: @RThompsonSun

Sun News Network is Canada’s home for Hard News and Straight Talk. A Quebecor Media company. 

I believe this is a golden opportunity for Small Flockers, and the TV story will be significantly improved by a Small Flocker stepping up to do the interview.

I therefore encourage you to step forward to help our cause.

Ignored by new Meat Regulations

The Ontario government of Premier Kathleen Wynne, as Agriculture Minister and Premier, has again ignored the just and valid pleas for relief from citizens and the small flock poultry farmers of Ontario.

The new Meat Regulations 285/13, amending O. Reg. 31/05, made under the FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY ACT, 2001 were written by OMAF on October 23, 2013 then filed on October 25, 2013 then published on e-Laws as of October 25, 2013 and printed in The Ontario Gazette: November 9, 2013.

Small Flockers have been ignored, in spite of our dedicated campaign and the submission of our recommendations to improve the regulations as requested by OMAF (see here, here, and SFPFC's recommendations here).

As one of the last available avenues to seek redress with Ontario's government, I have used the Service Ontario Regulatory Registry to submit a complaint against the newly revised regulations.

My comments submitted are as follows:

ONTARIO REGULATION 285/13

made under the

FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY ACT, 2001

Made: October 23, 2013
Filed: October 25, 2013
Published on e-Laws: October 25, 2013
Printed in The Ontario Gazette: November 9, 2013

Amending O. Reg. 31/05

Our complaint and comments are as follows:

For:

a) remote regions of Ontario that have reasonable access or geographical proximity to neither Provincially or Federally licensed meat plants (especially small flock poultry farmers); and

b) to a lesser but still significant degree for all small flock poultry farmers in Ontario (and possibly others):

the above regulations as they apply to poultry (and possibly other meats) are ultra vires, unconstitutional, violate and infringe civil and common law and other rights, violate international law and treaties, and are arbitrary, excessive, un-necessarily subject the public to greater risks and costs than alternative methods, oppressive, not science based, not risk based, have no or inadequate objective evidence to support or justify their imposition, and are contrary to the public's needs and rights for safe, accessible, locally grown, affordable, sustainable, and nutritious meats and meat products.

I have requested a written response, and the standard commitment to this response request is for the relevant Ministry to answer within 15 business days.

We shall wait and see what OMAF says, but since this latest revision in Ontario's Meat Regulations took five years to germinate, and about 9 months to draft, I have no allusions about obtaining a speedy solution for Small Flockers from this semi-fossilized governmental bureaucracy.

If I am to be pleasantly surprised, please do so Premier Wynne.

If my future disappointment is again inevitable, we shall have to look at obtaining relief for our just cause through other avenues and means.