Digitization Advancing a More Resilient, Efficient & Sustainable Chicken Industry

Aug 17, 2021

BURLINGTON, ON – Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO), with support through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership’s Place to Grow: Agri-Food Innovation Initiative, is moving forward with the digitization of auditing functions and improved information sharing across the Ontario chicken supply chain.

This project was funded by the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (the Partnership), a five-year, $3- billion investment by Canada's federal, provincial and territorial governments to strengthen and grow Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector. This commitment includes $2-billion in cost-shared programs, 60 percent from the federal government and 40 percent from the provincial/territorial government, which are designed and delivered by provinces and territories to meet regional needs while advancing national priorities.

In 2015, CFO launched CFO Connects, a best-in-class digital platform which has transformed the way the chicken industry does business. Building on that success, the approved project will leverage Partnership funding support from the Canadian and Ontario governments to enhance and expand the auditing functionality of the CFO Connects platform. These enhancements will streamline the farm audit process and improve reporting, leading to even greater efficiency and productivity in sector regulation and increased ability for the chicken supply chain to respond to the risk of avian diseases.

“Modernizing our business transactions and auditing functions through digitization is one way that CFO is supporting farmers in doing what they do best, feeding Ontarians with safe, healthy, locally-grown chicken,” said Ed Benjamins, Chair of Chicken Farmers of Ontario. “All Ontario chicken farmers operate under the high standards of the verifiable On-Farm Food Safety Program and Animal Care Program, and these enhancements to CFO Connects will provide CFO and our farmer-members with greater capacity and information to identify and address risks promptly and proactively.”

CFO's Raised by a Canadian Farmer Animal Care Program (ACP) and Raised by a Canadian Farmer On-Farm Food Safety Program (OFFSP) set out clear, auditable and enforceable standards to help guarantee the safety and humane treatment of chickens. These standards are continuously enhanced through ongoing investment in best practices, the implementation of modern technologies, upgraded facilities and through the adoption of new methods of production.

Through advancements in technology, such as mobile cameras, farmers and auditors can record and submit documentation more easily and in less time. Auditors will be able to review documentation through the CFO Connects platform in advance of on-farm audits, allowing them to focus inspections on critical aspects such as physical environments, biosecurity, animal care practices, and on-farm procedures.

Together, CFO and industry stakeholders will benefit from enhanced digitization and continue to grow a more resilient, efficient, and sustainable Ontario chicken industry.

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.”