June 9, 2004

 

 

Canadian Chicken Farmers To Receive Millions In Compensation
 

The Canadian federal government said Tuesday it will pay British Columbia farmers as much as $60 million (Canadian) in compensation for chickens slaughtered during the avian flu outbreak.

 

"It's a fair deal," said Errol Halkai, executive director of the Canadian Broiler Hatching Egg Marketing agency, one of several farmers' organizations consulted.

 

The chicken industry in British Columbia's Fraser Valley has been devastated since about 17 million birds - almost the whole domestic population - were slaughtered in an effort to stamp out the avian flu outbreak that began in February.

 

"We've been consulting quite strongly and consistently with the industry on this process, trying to come up with something that's fair," said Doug Steadman, a spokesman for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

 

While he could not give an exact figure, Steadman said the compensation package will total between $50 million and $60 million.

 

Most of the 17 million birds ordered culled from 42 farms and 11 backyard flocks were sent to market after testing negative for the virus, where they retrieved normal market prices.

 

The deal is to compensate the farmers who did not receive normal market values for their chickens. Some 1.3 million birds had to be slaughtered and composted because they were either infected or unfit for the market at slaughter time.

 

But B.C. Agriculture Minister John Van Dongen said Friday the package only covers those farmers who lost their chickens when their farms were ordered depopulated.

 

"There are a lot of farms out there, who are sustaining business losses, that will not be impacted by this compensation package," he said.

 

Chicken industry representatives agree that more compensation may be needed once the full impact of the outbreak can be assessed.

 

Van Dongen says it will be at least mid-July before chicken farmers will be able to restock their farms. Before that happens, all the farms that have tested positive for avian flu must be fully disinfected.