
Specialty Breeds Business Sector
Despite of the impact of COVID-19, the Specialty Breeds market continues to be in demand
In 2022, over 620 million kilograms of chicken was produced, 23,000 full-time jobs were supported across Ontario, $5.0 billion dollars in economic activity was generated, along with 68 new barns built and over 260 million chicks placed.
Throughout 2022, the chicken industry continued to move to a new normal following the COVID-19 pandemic and CFO’s farmers continued to persevere. National allocations grew as demand for chicken continued to be strong mainly due to the high costs of competing proteins and population growth in Canada. The demand for chicken is projected to continue to remain strong in 2023.
While demand increased, CFO farmers were faced with a chick shortage. CFO continued to work closely with the Ontario Broiler Hatching Egg and Chicken Commission (OBHECC) and the Canadian Hatching Egg Producers (CHEP) to secure the proper number of chicks for CFO farmers.
While COVID-19 related supply chain challenges mostly subsided in 2022, the prevalence of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Ontario, and globally, led to heightened alertness throughout the chicken sector. Farmers continued to focus on biosecurity and risk mitigation, pivoting from COVID-19 to Avian Influenza, and made changes and investments on-farm to heighten biosecurity to protect their flocks and maintain the security of the supply-chain.
As always, CFO’s focus remains on ensuring Ontarians continually have access to safe, healthy, locally-grown chicken. Throughout 2022, and despite challenges posed by COVID-19 and Avian Influenza, there were no significant disruptions to the supply-chain, and chicken remained readily available for Ontarians to consume and enjoy.
Despite of the impact of COVID-19, the Specialty Breeds market continues to be in demand
The Kosher, Halal and Organic chicken markets continued to evolve and provide high quality chicken
Provides non-commercial and small-flock growers access to information that promotes bird health and disease management
The first-of-its-kind in Canada, the Artisanal Chicken program was created with small-scale farmers and consumer interests in mind
Intended to support targeted niche markets in Ontario that are looking for new ways to access larger volumes of locally-grown chicken
Chicken Farmers Contributed to over 1 million meals through CFO Cares
The New Entrant Chicken Farmer Program helps qualified new farmers enter the strong, vibrant, and growing chicken business