Our Mandate

Chicken Farmers of Canada has two primary mandates. Our main responsibility is to ensure that our 2,800 farmers produce the right amount of fresh, safe, high-quality chicken to meet Canada’s needs. This evolving risk management system we operate under is commonly known as “supply management.”

Under supply management, Chicken Farmers of Canada:

• Meets with farmers, processors, further processors and members of the restaurant trade from across the country meet every eight weeks to decide, based on market demand, just how much chicken to raise
• Monitors compliance with provincial quota allocations – making sure each province raises as much chicken as they agreed to
• Monitors the inter-provincial or market development trade of chicken

Our second responsibility is to represent the interests of chicken farmers and the Canadian chicken industry. Chicken Farmers of Canada plays a key role in developing, partnering or managing programs for Canada’s chicken farmers that prove our producers continue to grow the high quality chicken that Canadians trust. Through programs such as our Raised by a Canadian Farmer Sustainability Excellence, Raised by a Canadian Farmer On-Farm Food Safety Program, Raised by a Canadian Farmer Animal Care Program and other biosecurity initiatives, Chicken Farmers of Canada works closely with government partners and industry stakeholders to keep the industry innovative and responsive.

Through our government relations program, Chicken Farmers of Canada strives to ensure that key decision makers in government fully understand the views of Canada’s chicken farmers and that these are taken into account when important agriculture and trade policy decisions are made.

Our Board

Our directions and policies are determined by a 15-member Board of Directors comprised of farmers appointed by the provincial chicken marketing boards. Non-farmer directors — one from the restaurant industry, another from the further processing industry, and two representing the processing industry — are appointed by their respective national associations. This way, Chicken Farmers of Canada and its stakeholders work together on behalf of Canada’s chicken industry, from farmer to consumer.

Our Mission

To lead and grow a trusted and sustainable Canadian chicken sector.

Our Vision

Canadian Chicken: Trusted. Preferred. Sustainable.

3-Year Strategic Plan and Guiding Principles

Each year, Chicken Farmers of Canada’s Board of Directors and Executive Management Team take the opportunity to celebrate the successes of the previous year and set priorities for the next. These strategies must correspond with the priorities stated in Chicken Farmers of Canada’s five-year strategic plan. The implementation of the 2023-2025 strategic plan is guided by the following strategic ambitions:

External

• Belief among Canadians that chicken is a safe and healthy source of protein, raised by farmers they can trust
• Broad consumer, retail, and food service support and recognition for the brand Raised by a Canadian Farmer
• Standardized, science-based, on-farm food safety and animal care programs throughout the chicken industry value chain, which are recognized by government, are transparent and supported by consumers, farmers, and the chicken industry value chain
• Demonstrated support from the government for supply management and its three pillars (import control, production discipline, and producer pricing)
• Sustainable and profitable growth – increase consumption
• Promotion of the truth about our industry, neutralizing the impact of vegan activist tactics

Internal

• A deep understanding, throughout the chicken industry value chain, of consumer wants/expectations
• A fact-based allocation process resulting in greater industry alignment
• Advocating and lobbying efforts for shared values by CFC, with the support of an engaged and collaborative chicken industry value chain
• Elimination of the preventative use of antibiotics important to human medicine
• Collaboration throughout the chicken industry value chain
• Environmentally responsible, sustainable farming, and value chain practices
• An industry commitment to innovation through continuous improvement, and research and development
• Recognition of CFC as a leader in governance and organizational effectiveness

Annual Reports

Each year, Chicken Farmers of Canada issues an annual report on the previous fiscal year with an update on strategic priorities, a market report, a trade update, financial statements, and other topics of interest.