CFO Board and DCRs deliver positive message during Federal Election

Sep 22, 2021

BURLINGTON, ON – CFO Board Directors and District Committee Representatives (DCRs) wrapped up a successful federal election engagement campaign, to provide information and education to candidates from all parties about supply management and issues facing chicken farmers.

In total, CFO representatives engaged with nearly sixty candidates across the province.

“We thank candidates from all parties for engaging with CFO’s Board Directors and DCRs, and discussing how Canada’s political representatives can support local chicken farmers and the supply management system,” said Ed Benjamins, Chair of Chicken Farmers of Ontario. “The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard, and Ontario chicken farmers continue to demonstrate great resilience in this time of uncertainty. One thing is for sure, we are absolutely committed to providing healthy, safe, locally-grown chicken for kitchen tables, food service and local food banks.”

The “I Support Local Chicken Farmers” campaign highlighted how Canada’s supply management system supports both rural and urban communities—by providing jobs and stable wages, while also providing consumers with chicken, raised with the highest standards of care and sustainability excellence. The Canadian chicken sector under supply management has helped guarantee food security, particularly during the pandemic.

“For farmers in our supply managed system, sustainable chicken production means protecting animal health and welfare, including enforcing mandatory on-farm food safety and animal care programs, producing safe chicken, preserving the health of the land and of Canadian farms and contributing to the Canadian economy by providing affordable food to Canadians,” said Denise Hockaday, CEO of Chicken Farmers of Ontario.

CFO was pleased to see commitments from all elected parties to continue to support Canada’s supply management system, and to address risks posed by illegal imports and free trade agreements.

Source : CFO

Video: US Soy: Pig growth is impaired by soybean meal displacement in the diet

Eric van Heugten, PhD, professor and swine extension specialist at North Carolina State University, recently spoke at the Iowa Swine Day Pre-Conference Symposium, titled Soybean Meal 360°: Expanding our horizons through discoveries and field-proven feeding strategies for improving pork production. The event was sponsored by Iowa State University and U.S. Soy.

Soybean meal offers pig producers a high-value proposition. It’s a high-quality protein source, providing essential and non-essential amino acids to the pig that are highly digestible and palatable. Studies now show that soybean meal provides higher net energy than current National Research Council (NRC) requirements. Plus, soybean meal offers health benefits such as isoflavones and antioxidants as well as benefits with respiratory diseases such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).

One of several ingredients that compete with the inclusion of soybean meal in pig diets is dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS).

“With DDGS, we typically see more variable responses because of the quality differences depending on which plant it comes from,” said Dr. van Heugten. “At very high levels, we often see a reduction in performance especially with feed intake which can have negative consequences on pig performance, especially in the summer months when feed intake is already low and gaining weight is at a premium to get them to market.”

Over the last few decades, the industry has also seen the increased inclusion of crystalline amino acids in pig diets.

“We started with lysine at about 3 lbs. per ton in the diet, and then we added methionine and threonine to go to 6 to 8 lbs. per ton,” he said. “Now we have tryptophan, isoleucine and valine and can go to 12 to 15 lbs. per ton. All of these, when price competitive, are formulated into the diet and are displacing soybean meal which also removes the potential health benefits that soybean meal provides.”