Supporting Innovation For Chicken Farmers Across Ontario

Monday, 30 December 2019 12:09

Both the federal and provincial government will assist farmers in the broiler chicken egg and hatcheries sector with new innovation tools to improve the tracing of its products.

ONTARIO - The federal and provincial government are helping chicken farmers across Ontario through a new innovation project.

They're looking to assist those in Ontario's broiler chicken egg and hatcheries sector to enhance the tracing of its products.

With cost-share funding of up to $141,450 through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, the Ontario Broiler Hatching Egg and Chick Commission (OBHECC) will upgrade its systems that track egg and chick production.

Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Ernie Hardeman says this project will benefit farmers and the agri-food sector.

"We're committed to working with our farmers and our entire agri-food sector to help them find ways to save time and money through innovation, while continuing to produce safe, high-quality foods consumers enjoy. Investing in projects like this one, through the Partnership, is helping to make our agri-food stronger and even more competitive."

This upgrade will bring costs down by further automating data inputting processes and allow other systems, like on-farm sensors, to connect seamlessly and upload new data.

Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau praised the new project.

"This investment ensures chicken farmers are equipped with up-to-date and efficient traceability tools, which are essential to maintaining strong businesses and to strengthening public trust in food safety and quality."

Both governments have committed cost-share support to approximately 2,500 projects through the Partnership since June 2018, in order to help Ontario farmers who are eligible, processors, businesses and sector organizations innovate and grow.

Executive Director of the Ontario Broiler Hatching Egg and Chick Commission, Bill Van Heeswyk says it will make things more efficient for hatcheries.

"OBHECC is committed to partnership that drives innovated processes to meet new challenges and opportunities for our membership and industry. This progressive solution will reduce overhead and increase the overall efficiency of the hatchery supply chain while building value and serving the chicken industry's needs of sustainable, safe and high-quality products. We thank Minister Hardeman and Minister Bibeau for this support and partnership as we work to continuously improve our systems and build a platform to support the needs of a growing hatching egg and hatchery industry."

The project will build and strengthen the capacity for the province’s chicken industry to manage chickens more effectively and in emergency situations such as disease outbreak or barn damage from fire or extreme weather.