Farmers Market

These are some points that came out of an information session for buyers of chicken eggs and meat after the Sorauren Farmers' Market February 25, 2013.
This page published March 15, 2013 and revised March 30, 2013

There were three speakers:
Geraldine Dempsey of Flocking Options, a project of Sustain Ontario
Darren Vanstone of the World Society for the Protection of Animals - Canada
Anne Freeman, Project Co-ordinator, Greenbelt Farmers' Market Network and Market Co-ordinator, Dufferin Grove Organic Farmers' Market
and comments by several of the Market vendors.

Overall takeaways, What you can do

• Talk with your vendor about practices
• The distinctions between practices of different types of operations are not cut and dried, there is a continuum
• The chicken and egg industries are driven by consumer demand, most notably for low price and year-round availability
• You as a consumer can demand a different different emphasis but you have to be willing to pay for it

Questions you might want to ask a vendor

• Did you raise the birds?
• What were they fed?  Were they able to forage?
• In what kind of cages or barns were they raised? Did they have access to the outdoors?
• What precautions or treatments for disease were used?
• Are the eggs graded?
• At the grader's did you get your own eggs back?
• Was slaughter done in a low-stress manner?
• If the price of eggs is very low, ask why.  How old are they?
• See the Sorauren Farmers' Market Buyer's Guide, below, for practices of some of our vendors

General information

• Chickens that are raised by conventional methods for eggs ("Layers") and for meat ("Broilers") are different breeds.  Heritage, "dual purpose" birds lay fewer eggs and take longer to mature for meat.
• The considerations, including the significance of terms such as "free range", are different for egg and meat production so it makes sense to describe them separately as we do here.
• All chickens are the result of millennia of breeding by humans, they are not wild, but they have needs that survive from their wild ancestors: to perch in high places at night, forage for food, dustbathe, have an avenue of escape from predators, and for females, to nest.
• Like all animals they are subject to stress and have feelings and emotions such as frustration, anger and well-being.
• Organic, GMO-free, feed is much more expensive than the regular kind.  Corn and soy (and canola) are the most widely raised GMO crops and since chicken feed consists primarily of the first two it should be assumed to contain GMOs unless stated otherwise.
• The terms "free run", "free range" and "pastured" have generally accepted meanings but are not regulated, so ask your vendor what they mean by them.
• The term "organic" is regulated federally in Organic Products Regulations, 2009 and means:
  ".. livestock are provided with living conditions and space allowances appropriate to their behavioural requirements, and organically produced feed. These practices strive to minimize stress, promote good health and prevent disease."
  There are many detailed requirements but the standard also notes that the certification is of a process, rather than a final product and that certifiably organic practices vary according to conditions across the country.
• Eggs and chicken meat sold in Ontario are subject the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food inspection regulations.

Egg chickens

• Conventionally raised "layers" live in battery cages of five to ten birds that allot only 0.04 m² (70 sq in) for each bird.  This prevents them from perching and foraging, and even moving much and leads to frustration and angry behaviour.
• There is some movement in the industry toward larger "furnished" cages that allow nesting and perching for some of the birds.
• Layers begin to lay at about 18 weeks of age, produce about 320 eggs per year, and are economically productive for 72-80 (52-60) weeks.
• The breeding that results in this level of egg laying also gives rise to pecking other birds and necessitates beak trimming.
• It is impossible for birds to obtain enough calcium from their diet to make that many shells and so the mineral is drawn from their bones which sometimes leads to fractures.
• After their productive life they are processed (slaughtered) and can be prepared for eating by slow, moist cooking methods (stew, soup) and may have a lot of "chickeny" flavour but their flesh is too tough for "broiling" methods.
• Chickens only lay a few weeks a year unless they have a high protein diet, usually consisting of corn and soy based feeds.
• Chickens will only lay eggs a few weeks a year unless their environment is manipulated

Meat chickens

• Conventionally raised "broilers" live in large open barns where they can move freely, in constrast to the battery cages that are often used for "layers".  This implies that the term "free run" doesn't mean anything special when applied to broilers.  The term free run is not regulated.
• The term "free range" implies access to the outdoors, but is also not regulated.  Some chickens do not use outdoor space even when it is available.
• They grow so fast that they are ready for market in five to eight weeks after birth.
• Many people find that meat from chickens raised this way has very little flavour; this lack is usually attributed to fast growth.
• The term "organic" is regulated and means that the size of outdoor space is of a given size that is probably larger than "free range" and that feed does not contain GMOs.
• The term "pasture raised" usually implies being raised in a field with access to insects as well as grain feed,  but since it is un-regulated if you see it used it is wise to ask what the grower means by it. "Foraging" means looking for food of various kinds over a relatively wide area, compared to eating a single kind of food from a feeding station; it is something all chickens instinctively want to do.
• Pasture that contains food sources area cuts back on feed required and a larger area to move around allows for manure to be spread over larger areas.  Pasturing requires more land and reduces economies of scale and so leads to higher prices.  We know of pastured flocks of 12,000 birds.  The organic standard is 1,000 birds per acre.
• Broilers are often vaccinated at birth but are not ordinarily given antibiotics or other drugs unless they show symptoms of illness.  Therefore the term "drug free" does not generally mean anything special.  In conventional breeding, antibiotics are given to promote growth rather than prevent disease.
• There is of course a population, invisible to the consumer, of hens and roosters (in a ratio of 10 to 1) of the broiler breed that grow to sexual maturity and, for a year, produce the eggs for the chicks that are raised for meat.
• The term "processing" refers to the slaughter, bleeding, plucking, cooling, evisceration, cutting and packaging that prepares a live animal for sale and consumption.  Since chickens are sentient slaughter can be done in ways that are stressful to a greater or less degree.

Quota and the Supply Management system

• Both egg and meat chicken production in Ontario is embedded in quota systems that control the amount of production and are designed to stabilize prices at a level that can sustain businesses of a moderate size.  The quota operates as a license to raise or use a certain number of birds and can be bought and sold.  The minimum cost is about $1.75 million.
• An industry-supplied definition:
  "The system under which the Canadian chicken industry runs. This quota system ensures that Ontario’s chicken farmers produce the required volume. Supply management balances supply with demand and prevents overproduction, flooded markets and depressed prices for farmers. It allows chicken production in Ontario to remain a sustainable industry that is profitable for farmers."
• Because of the size of the minimum quota the system also effectively enforces certain methods of handling the animals.
• The quota system also involves tariffs on imported eggs and chickens that make them uncompetitive on price, effectively preventing imports.
• There is an exception to the quota system called the Small Flock option for farms that raise no more than 100 layers or 300 broilers a year but it is designed to not be commercially viable and forbids sales except at the farm gate.  Other provinces that have quota systems have larger exception levels.  For more on this see the Flocking Options web site.

Layer quota

• The price for eggs paid to farmers within the Ontario quota system is roughly $2/dozen, not including grading.

Broiler quota

• The minimum quota is about 90,000 birds per year.  Since the life span of a broiler is from five to eight weeks it means the farmer has at minimum about 15,000 chickens at any one time.

Egg Grading

• Ungraded eggs may not be sold except at the farm gate
• It costs 1.00 to 1.90/dozen for eggs to be graded
• The benefits of grading include regular size, cleanliness of shells, absence of cracked shells, absence of fertilized embryos and freedom from disease including salmonella
• Grading includes and is not separable from packaging into labelled cartons
• Grading operations may include eggs from more than one farmer and some graders do not give the farmer "his/her own" eggs back, so benefits of practices of raising the chickens may be lost
• Grader operations may have a minimum batch size, such as 30 dozen, that make it impossible for smaller producers to use them
• Some graders sell eggs of other farmers in addition to their own. If particular practices matter to you you can ask whose eggs you are getting.

Sorauren Farmers' Market Egg and Chicken Buyer's Guide

These practices are reported by vendors at the Sorauren Park Farmers' Market

Bees' Universe

• "Small flock" under the Marketing Board i.e. not more than 100 laying chickens
• Pastured during warm months
• Organic feed
• In-house egg grading facility

Country Meadows Organics

• Certified organic operation, implying organic feed, access to outdoors, no antibiotics or hormones
• "Small flock" under the Marketing Board i.e. not more than 100 laying chickens
• Graded
• Raises dual purpose, heritage breeds such as Silver Lave Wyandottes
• Only sells eggs at Sorauren Farmers' Market

Represented by Deer Valley Farm

• Nature Plus Eggs
  • "Small flock" under the Marketing Board i.e. not more than 100 laying chickens
  • Free-range hens that forage in green grass
  • Drug & hormone-free
  • Collected fresh weekly
  • Graded
• Martin Family Farm Poultry
  • Chickens are not injected
  • Fed an all-vegetable diet free of:
    animal bi-products, anticoccidials, antibiotics, drugs, GMOs, growth promoters/hormones
  • Free-run environment
  • Eggs are graded, meat is processed at a registered abattoir
  • HACCP standards

Represented by Field Sparrow Farms

• Meat chicken from Henry Herschberger in Cameron, ON
• "Small flock" under the Marketing Board i.e. not more than 300 broiler chickens
• Only grown during warm months so the chickens can be outside as much as they like;
  implies that the meat is only available during those months
• Fed a GMO-free grain from a feed mill that processes no GMO feed meaning there is not cross-contamination
• Butchered at a local, provincially-certified abattoir

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