COVID-19 hit BC hatching egg producers hard as the disease roiled demand for broilers, forcing them to anticipate where demand might lie months in the future. While fully grown broilers can be processed and their meat frozen when demand shifts, hatching eggs can’t be shelved if they’re not wanted. Indeed, the BC Broiler Hatching Egg …
supply management
Egg producer questions support for local eggs
DUNCAN – A Vancouver Island egg producer/grader wants the corporate egg business to give consumers more transparency and choice. A blog post on the Farmer Ben’s Eggs website in early December questioned the branding of some eggs sold on the island as being island-produced when, in fact, many of the eggs originate off-island and perhaps …
No new concessions
Ottawa has promised to protect supply management in future trade deals, citing a deal reached November 21 to ensure continuity in trading arrangements with the UK when it leaves the EU at the end of December. “Our government will not provide market access to our supply managed sectors in any future trade agreements,” federal agriculture …
Dairy sector demands action
Concessions under CUSMA, which replaced NAFTA at the beginning of July, have cost the BC dairy industry approximately $8.6 million to date. This week, through Dairy Farmers of Canada, producers called on Ottawa to announce compensation and a clear timeline for delivering the direct payments it promised the sector as a result of the new …
Consumers embrace niche products
Producers have long been told that niche products are one way to avoid being reduced to commodity producers and price-takers. Now, the BC Milk Marketing Board’s scramble to align conventional milk production with consumer demand is highlighting the challenges of serving the mass market and the benefits of targeting smaller categories. The board initially announced …
Trade risks remain
The removal May 17 of US tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum – and this week, retaliatory tariffs of 10% Canada that had imposed on 75 products, including cucumbers and gherkins, prepared meats, maple syrup, yogurt and roasted coffee – may pave the way for ratification of the Canada-US-Mexico trade agreement announced last fall. However, …