Who will use a poultry abattoir

Jeff Green | Feb 24, 2011

The National Farmers Union (NFU) Local 316 (Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Counties) has actively promoted the strengthening of the local food system in the Kingston area for several years. Its current project, The New Farm Project, assists farmers to increase their abilities to produce for the local markets in the Kingston area.

Most of the poultry producers in Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Counties are small scale and operate outside of the quota system. Farmers without chicken quotas are now allowed to sell up to 300 birds annually direct to the public. The market for local poultry seems also to be expanding but the distance from producers to poultry abattoirs is an impediment to expanding production in the region around Frontenac County.

The NFU has received a grant from Frontenac County to develop a feasibility study/ business plan for a new abattoir dedicated to fill that gap, and has retained the consulting firm, Expansion Strategies of Montreal, to do this study. The first step in this feasibility study is to assess the likely demand from local farmers for the services of such a poultry abattoir.

“We are asking local farmers who raise or are interested in raising poultry for slaughter and sale to contribute to this project by answering a short questionnaire,” said David Hahn, a director with local 316.

Hahn raises chickens himself on a small scale, as a complement to his garlic and vegetable gardens. The chickens provide manure for the gardens and some are available for farm gate sales along with maple syrup and garlic.

“At one time we did the slaughtering ourselves, but in recent years we have been travelling all the way to Foxboro to an abattoir, which is a long drive,” Hahn said, making him one of the local farmers who would welcome another option.

Local 316 has contacted suppliers of day-old chicks for local families and farms and have found that about 30,000 are sold each year in the local area. The local has also been visiting abattoirs in the region to see if anyone might be interested in chickens.

One potential operator is Mike McKenzie, the new owner of the Sharbot Lake Meat Market, which is south of Sharbot Lake on Road 38. McKenzie is from Kingston and intends to produce pork sausages out of the location, but is open to using the facilities as a poultry abattoir, according to Hahn.

In order to complete a business plan for this new operation, the NFU is asking anyone who is currently farming chickens on a small scale to fill out a simple questionnaire that can be found on the NFU website at http://nfuontario.ca/316 By answering this questionnaire you may help establish the size of the market for such an abattoir. Your personal information will be kept private. If you have any questions about this survey, contact David Hahn at 613-273-5545 or the consultant, Jacques Grysole at 514-274-2641