Supply Management

In Canada, producers try to grow only as much chicken as Canadians will consume.  This is called supply management.  It prevents over production and flooded market conditions which helps the industry remain sustainable and provides fair returns for farmers.  It also keeps prices stable for consumers.  Supply management relies on three pillars: production planning, producer pricing, and import controls.

Production Planning
How do we know how much chicken is needed?
Every eight weeks farmers, processors, further processors and members of the restaurant industry all meet at Chicken Farmers of Canada headquarters to determine market requirements and set national production levels.  Once the production levels are set, each province is given their allocation.  From there, the BC Chicken Marketing Board distributes this production among the BC quota holders.

Producer Pricing
Every eight weeks, the producers and processors of BC meet to negotiate a minimum live price for their product.  This helps the producers receive a fair price for their product so they do not need to depend on funded agriculture support programs (grants and subsidies).  All of the costs of the supply management system are paid for by the producers through levies on each kilogram of chicken they produce.  The producers do not set wholesale or retail prices.

Import Controls
Canadian poultry processors are still active in the export market.  Some of the chicken we produce is shipped to other countries.  In order remain active in the export market, Canada must also import some chicken from other countries.  The amount of chicken imported is taken into account when the chicken industry is planning how much production is needed.  In order for the industry to be able to accurately predict how much chicken will be imported, they need to have some control over much can come into Canada.  This is done through import controls.  Without effective import controls, such as tariff rate quotas, predicting imports would not be possible.