The COVID-19 crisis is challenging for everyone, including those involved with producing the food that goes to Canada’s tables. On our page at chickenfarmers.ca, we outline many resources that farmers can use to better understand this situation and how it affects them. As always, farmers should consult with their provincial board for more information on how to keep themselves, their families, and their employees safe and healthy and maintain best practices on the farm.
Chicken Farmers of Canada Office
Per provincial regulations that all non-essential premises shut down, the national office is now closed. This became effective at the end of day March 23. We will reopen the offices as soon as we can. Staff will continue to work from home and can be reached via email or phone.
Please note that the anticipated office relocation in early April has been delayed until further notice.
COVID-19-related meetings
Chicken Farmers of Canada is conducting weekly meetings with the Executive Committee, as well as with Provincial Boards regarding the COVID-19 crisis.
The provincial board meetings provide an opportunity for boards to discuss ongoing issues and to determine areas of possible collaboration, and to identify areas that may need to be addressed. Provincial Boards are providing communications directly to their producers.
Other meetings and updates Chicken Farmers of Canada is participating in or hosting:
- meeting three times weekly with the National Poultry Group (CPEPC and the other feather organizations)
- participating on an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Roundtable call with industry call three times a week
- participating on a weekly call with Public Safety Canada
- participating on more infrequent calls with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Message from AAFC
The COVID-19 outbreak is a rapidly evolving situation. These are certainly unprecedented times and we know that this is causing new challenges specific to the agriculture and agri-food sector. To help ensure that you have access to pertinent information, AAFC has launched a new page on its main webpage (www.agr.gc.ca) through which information related to the COVID-19 situation is shared. The new page contains a specific link for industry that contains Questions and Answers to particular issues, as well as a series of related links at the bottom of the page.
AAFC will continue to update the page regularly.
On-Farm Program Audits
Given the COVID-19 circumstances, Chicken Farmers of Canada and provincial boards have been exploring ways to temporarily suspend on-farm audits. Most provinces have suspended their on-farm audits in light of the COVID-19 situation, with many electing to pursue records audits instead. This will be evaluated on an ongoing basis. Please check with your provincial boards.
Consumer Communications
Now that most consumers are staying home, we are dialing back our self-promotional efforts in favour of a more helpful approach, by creating a “Cooped Up?” page on our website with helpful resources for consumers to get them through their days. Since more people will be cooking at home, we’re focusing on recipes, batch cooking, cooking with/for kids, and given that consumers will be making more meals at home, we are also featuring proper cooking and handling techniques.
The page is up on our main page at chicken.ca. We also have a page geared at other activities for families. Finally, we have also engaged our brand ambassadors to write an additional post this month, focused on similar themes. Our social media channels are following a similar theme.
