By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Monday, January 29, 2024

Jan 29, 2024 | 2:53 PM

Several food industry groups are raising the alarm about a potential increase in the farm-level price of chicken in British Columbia, saying it could put pressure on businesses and consumers.

Restaurants Canada is urging the provincial government to intervene as the change would raise consumer prices by an average of 10 per cent.

The Canadian chicken industry, alongside dairy and eggs, is supply-managed. That means there’s a system in place that regulates production levels, wholesale prices and trade.

The B.C. Chicken Marketing Board has proposed a new pricing formula to determine the price of chicken in the province, a submission awaiting approval by the B.C. Farm Industry Review Board.

The marketing board sets the live price of chicken every eight weeks using an interim pricing formula, which would be replaced by the proposed formula if it’s approved.

Weather

Climatologist predicts very mild winter in Saskatchewan

10h ago

Death Investigation

P.A. Police locate human remains near East Hill homeless encampment

12h ago

Politics

Trudeau to shuffle his cabinet as four ministers plan to step down

13h ago

Pam Alexis, the province’s agriculture and food minister, said in a statement the pricing proposal is being evaluated by the review board “with an eye for supporting a sustainable poultry sector, our local food supply, and affordability for people.” She said the government will continue to listen and work with stakeholders.

–

Protesting farmers were encircling Paris with tractor barricades and drive-slows on Monday, using their lumbering vehicles to block highways leading to France’s capital to pressure the government over the future of their industry, which has been shaken by repercussions of the Ukraine war.

The targeting of Paris and traffic-snarling protests elsewhere in France promised another difficult week for new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, less than a month into the job.

Attal failed to defuse the farmers’ movement last week with pro-agriculture measures that protesters said fell short of their demands that producing food should be more lucrative, easier and fairer.

Protesters responded with the deployment of hundreds of tractors, trailers and harvesters to block and slow traffic in what they described as a “siege” to squeeze more concessions from Attal’s government. Some protesters came with reserves of food and water and tents to stay at their barricades if the government doesn’t cede ground.

The movement in France is another manifestation of a global food crisis worsened by Russia’s nearly two-year full-scale war in Ukraine, a major food producer.

French farmers assert that war-impacted higher prices for fertilizer, energy and other inputs for growing crops and feeding livestock have eaten into their incomes, even making farming untenable for some.

–

alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @farmnewsNOW