Canada pledges billions to guard poultry incomes

Canada’s dairy and poultry producers’ incomes will be protected for 15 years following the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement which was sign on October 5th.

Part of the deal will see imported produce gain further access to Canada’s highly valuable dairy and poultry markets, where production is managed by quota. The deal opens an additional 3.25% of the country’s dairy market, 2.1% of its chicken and turkey markets, 2.3% for the egg sector and 1.5% for broiler hatching eggs.

Compensation package

The Canadian government has set out a compensation package worth £2.15bn in total, including £1.2bn to protect farm incomes in affected sectors for 10 years from the day TPP comes into force. Income support will continue on a tapered basis for five years after this.

The income protection package will provide:

£82,800 for a typical dairy farm
£42,000 for a typical broiler producer
£44,000 for a typical turkey producer
£35,750 for a typical egg producer
£95,850 for a typical hatching egg producer.

An additional £750m will help to protect the value of milk quota when quota is sold during the 10 years following the implementation of TPP.

The Canadian government is also putting £2.25m into modernising processing businesses in supply-managed sectors and a further £7.5m to help farmer and other groups to promote and market their products.

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US poultry orgs applaud TPP deal

After many years of negotiating, the United States, Canada, Japan and 9 other countries have concluded a free trade agreement designed to cut trade tariffs and sets common standards.

“Level playing field”

At the American Farm Bureau Federation, president Bob Stallman said: “The Trans-Pacific Partnership has promised to open restricted markets for American business around the Pacific Rim.

“We hope the agreement will bring a more level playing field for farmers and ranchers by reducing tariffs and removing non-science based barriers to trade. We expect to see increased access for our agricultural products, particularly some meats.”

Criticism of trade deal

Both TPP and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), another deal which is being negotiated between the US and the EU, have been criticised for the involvement of corporate interests in the process.

There has also been widespread concern in the US that the deals are being fast-tracked and not receiving proper scrutiny by lawmakers.

Source: Poultry World