Importing Broilers from the US

We have for some tiime been planning an order for Freedom Rangers. In talking to Kendell Fox he passed on the following email message.

Hello Kendall,


I have now spoken to two officials in the Canadian capital city who are experts in the Canadian law regarding importing brooder eggs and live chicks.


They have told me:


(1) It is not lawful for anyone except a hatchery to import live broiler chicks.
I am not a hatchery so, I am not allowed to import live broiler chicks.


(2) Even if I were a hatchery, I do not have a quota allocation for which there is a special application process.
As a hatchery without quota, I would have to pay 287% duty on the chicks.


(3) The Canadian Border Services is being alerted by central authorities that in the past they allowed small allotments
of broiler chicks across the border bought by producers like myself, but this is illegal and must be stopped immediately.


I am very sorry about this news because we loved your chicks so much.
However, my hands are tied now. I must request a refund from you and I must purchase lower quality Canadian broiler chicks

Hi Kendall,


Basically, these people got lucky at the border, maybe because it wasn't worth the hassle. From 1 chick and up there is a 238% duty on the value of the chick - end of story. Unless you are a hatchery with a "import quota number", then it's duty free.


Here's the link all Canadians need to have a look at... [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] … amp;view=d
Section 13 applies to us small farmers.
It might be something worth posting on your site.


cheers,


Janeen

I'm wondering if any other members have encountered this problem. It would certainly be another step to keeping small farmers out of the market.

I am astonished. Don't know what to say. More poking around and asking around needed.

Apparently the law only applies to broiler chicks. The bulletin I read was dated October 2011. Bergs Hatchery has been importing the same or a similar variety, but the shipping adds quite a bit to the cost.

.

Who knew...


DFAIT

The Export and Import Controls Bureau of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade is responsible for the issuance of permits for goods on the Import Control List and Export Control List under the authority of the Export and Import Permits Act. The following agricultural products are or will be subject to controls:

Agricultural Products subject to Import Controls:

•Chicken, Turkey
•Broiler Hatching Eggs and Chicks, Shell Eggs and Egg Products
•Cheese
•Butter, Margarine
•Ice Cream, Yogurt, Other Dairy Products
•Barley and Barley Products
•Wheat and Wheat Products
•Beef and Veal from Non-NAFTA countries (North American Free Trade Agreement)
Contact:

Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT)
Export and Import Controls Bureau
Lester B. Pearson Building
125 Sussex Drive,
4th Floor C Tower
Ottawa ON K1A 0G2
Telephone: 613-996-2594
Facsimile: 613-996-0612
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


Those who hold quota for broiler chicks/eggs from the US

Controlled Products
2012 Broiler Hatching Eggs & Chicks Quota Holders List
ACA Co-Operative Limited
64 Minas Warehouse Road
New Minas, Nova Scotia
B4N 5A5

Berg's Hatchery
Box 547
Russell, Manitoba
R0J 1W0

Cargill Value Added Meats Canada
644 Nanticoke Creek Parkway
Jarvis, Ontario
N0A 1J0

Carleton Hatcheries Ltd.
199 Hamelin Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3T 0P2

Clark's Chick Hatchery /Nutreco Canada Inc.
425 route 104
Burtts Corner, New Brunswick
E6L 2A9

Couvoir Boire & Frères Inc.
532 Rang 9
Wickham, Québec
J0C 1S0

Couvoir Réal Côté Inc.
329 rue St-Georges
Ange-Gardien, Québec
J0E 1E0

Couvoir Scott Ltée
1798 route Kennedy
Scott, Québec
G0S 3G0

Couvoir Westco Ltée
9 rue Westco
St-François, New Brunswick
E7A 1A5

Cox Bros Poultry Farm Ltd.
7520 Hwy 215
Maitland, Nova Scotia
B0N 1T0

Farmcrest Foods Ltd.
1880 30th Street S.W.
Salmon Arm, British Columbia
V1E 3J9

Fleming Chicks Limited
4412 Ontario Street, Box 1000
Beamsville, Ontario
L0R 1B0

Fraser Valley Chick Sales Ltd.
1681 Clearbrook Road
Abbotsford, British Columbia
V2T 5X5

Friendly Family Farms
239 Centre Avenue, P.O. Box 69
Blumenort, Manitoba
R0A 0C0

Golden Feather Hatchery
5840 Blackburn Rd.
Chilliwack, British Columbia
V2R 4N9

Granny's Poultry Co-Operative (Manitoba) Ltd.
750 Pandora Ave. East
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R2C 4G5

Horizon Poultry (Division of Maple Leaf Foods Inc.)
90, 10th Avenue
Hanover, Ontario
N4N 3B8

La Coop fédérée
165 Laurier Est
Victoriaville, Québec
G6P 6P8

Lilydale Inc.
27923 Myrtle Ave.
Abbotsford, British Columbia
V4X 1R3

Lone Pine Farm (1992) Ltd.
3959 Hwy #1
Berwick, Nova Scotia
B0P 1E0

Maple Leaf Foods Inc.
70 Heritage Drive
New Hamburg, Ontario
N3A 2J4

Maple Leaf Foods Inc.
4710 - 39 Ave.
Wetaskiwin, Alberta
T9A 3G2

Pacific Pride Chicks, Ltd.
32870 King Rd.
Abbotsford, British Columbia
V2S 7Z7

Ramsay Hatchery (Division of Nutreco Canada Inc.)
4401 rue Crepeau
St-Felix-de-Valois, Québec
J0K 2M0

Rochester Hatchery
9420 109 Street
Westlock, Alberta
T7P 2R4

Rossdown Farms Ltd.
2325 Bradner Road
Abbotsford, British Columbia
V4X 1E2

Stratford Chick Hatchery Ltd.
17 Pine St.
Stratford, Ontario
N5A 1W2

Western Hatchery Ltd.
505 Hamm Rd. R.R. 1
Abbotsford, British Columbia
V2T 6B6

Very interesting.

Reminds me of a discussion on the BC Organic List Serve where organic farmers were being denied small scale licenses to raise egg layers. The Egg Marketing Board has severely limited the number of licenses they are willing to hand out.

A point I made then that I feel applies here as well is that most of us smallhold farmers want our cake and to eat it too. We want to benefit from industry owned genepools without restrictions. However, such is not how our world works. Corporations have every right to restrict how their products are utilized, who is allowed to sell them and who gets to utilize them. Even in the flooring business this was true. I remember when Pergo would not sell their flooring to an installer until that installer attended their training sessions.

In a previous discussion where I was mentioning corporate ownership of a genepool, someone tried correcting me by suggesting that one cannot patent chickens. While this may be true, patents are not the only tool corporation use to protect their perceived ownership. How much are we willing to spend in legal fees in order to protect what we feel is right. Best to simply avoid such exposure.

The marketing boards are indirectly controlled by the corporations who control the genepools their members are dependant. It only makes sense that our customs regulations would support our marketing board regulations. They serve a common master, our government.

Our ability to grow our own backyard poultry is going to become increasingly restrictive in time. The Pawns on the chessboard are being moved into place as we sit here reading and typing. We have animals welfare regulations coming down that question the legality of traditional animal husbandry practices. We have premise ID and animal tracking regulations coming our way. Meat regulations have had a profound impact.

I may be missing something, but as it stands, I feel our publically owned heritage breeds are our only hope to the long term sustainable continuation of backyard poultry. Our Charter of Rights will not protect our right to utilize and benefit from a corporate owned product, but it should protect our right to continued enjoyment of public domain genepools.

This is why I make a point of looking to see what's behind new and improved genepools. It's also why my breeding endevours is an open book. Yes, the approach exposes me to critism and yes there are some that will throw rocks at me for doing so. However, I find the alternative much less appealing.

I think everybody has to look at this from another point of view. I believe it's more about disease control. It would be hard for these hatcheries to monitor all the little backyard farmers with orders of 100 or so compared to the bigger hatcheries that order in much larger quantities. Any problems that may arise can be easily traced by who bought them from what hatchery.

Ever look at the hatcheries on utube? Look at the ones where things have gone wrong. (chicks stuck in the conveyors etc) Not pretty

feathers wrote:I think everybody has to look at this from another point of view. I believe it's more about disease control. It would be hard for these hatcheries to monitor all the little backyard farmers with orders of 100 or so compared to the bigger hatcheries that order in much larger quantities.

Seems reasonable, until I consider waterfowl. I'm sure ducks can also transmit diseases but we don't have the same border restrictions on ducks that we have on commodity controlled items such as broilers. FWIW, most of the waterfowl genepools traded in North America are public domain whereras almost all broiler stock is corporate controlled.

So that list of meat companys that have quotas are they buying all their eggs or chicks from the US? Or some at least? Its kind of scarry if they are?

Ducks are the least of my worries. Very seldom have I encountered any sickness. My biggest concern though is gamebirds. Did you know that blackhead was never a problem in North America until the chinese ringneck pheasant was introduced from China? Game birds can be brought back & fourth thru numerous resources. Fish n game clubs, dog trial people. There's a big market out there.

Quotas have to be protected from the people that purchased them. Yes, most of it is about control but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I think the whole industry is scary. I do not know where or in what form the hatcheries in Canada get their stock. According to Uno the hatchery in the North Okanagan imports hatching eggs from Alabama. We are going to go back to a heritage breed like the Cornish or Delaware ourselves.

feathers wrote:Ducks are the least of my worries. Very seldom have I encountered any sickness.

ducks may not get sick often, but they can still be carriers of disease. They also triggered the second avian flu cull in the fraser valley.

rosewood wrote: I do not know where or in what form the hatcheries in Canada get their stock.

The following is the list (as of 2007) of the Parent Corporations that control the world's commercial poultry genetics. It doesn't matter where Canadian hatcheries get their hatching eggs, one of the following owns the genepools used. None are Canadian.

Tyson (US)

Grimaud Group (F)

Hendrix Genetics (NL)

Nutreco (NL)

PHW (D)

I seem to recall some merges happening since the list was compiled, but can't remember specifics. Seem to recall Hendrix and Nutreco getting together.