On Sunday, February 12, 2012, Canadian farmers will be celebrating Food Freedom Day. We at CFC will be celebrating this important day with our Canadian agriculture partners who work hard to ensure that Canadian consumers are provided with a safe and high quality food supply day in and day out.

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) launched this program in February of 2007 and it is still going strong. Here’s a News Release sent out by CFA on February 6, 2012 which outlines the meaning of this special day.

http://www.cfa-fca.ca/media-centre/news-releases/2012/food-freedom-day-call-secure-future-food-and-farm

Last week I attended the ShesConnected Conference at the Sheraton Centre Hotel.  Actually, CFC was one of the sponsors of the event and I was there as a representative.

There are conferences catering specifically to top digital women and bloggers.  There are also others that address the needs of both brands and agencies. The ShesConnected Conference is a hybrid of the two, with the intention of bringing brands and digital women together, with the intent of seeing what they can learn from each other.

As sponsors, CFC was involved in a great deal of pre-event promotion, helping women find out more and more about chicken and how it can be a great choice for their families.  During the event, we were featured in the exhibition hall, where we were going to get to meet over 200 digital women and find out how CFC can build relationships and find new ways to get our messages across.

I flew to Toronto on Wednesday afternoon and called it an early night.  Thursday morning, I was up with the birds to get our booth set up and to make sure everything was ready to go before the event.  While setting up, I had the opportunity to meet some of the other sponsors who are also stepping it up by using social media as a way to reach out to people.

The morning started a little slowly but by early afternoon the room was buzzing.  I had an opportunity to meet most of the participants and ask them about their blogs and websites.  Among the participants were mommy bloggers, food bloggers, make up and beauty trend followers and women who blog about important social and personal issues. There was a powerful energy in the room.

Social media continues to bring people together; it’s all about sharing information.  At this conference, it was about women inspiring other women through their stories, good or bad, or sharing the latest fashions, trends and recipes.

Social media was once used as a primary means of helping people stay in touch with family and friends, the trends for brands are quickly rising.  Recent surveys have shown that women are now using social media at a growing rate to follow trends and ideas, find ways to manage their homes and learn about products.  Over 80% of Canadian women have made purchases and choices based on recommendations made by a blog.  This, of course, creates a so-called “halo effect”, because the influence of these blogs, tweets and Facebook posts moves well beyond the original document.

Panel discussions were held throughout the conference.  One of the most popular sessions was with keynote speaker Elisa Camhort Page, co-founder of Blogher, the world’s largest online community of women who blog.  Elisa spoke about what brands want from bloggers and digital women.  The day continued with other topics, including:

• Product Reviews vs. Blog Tours vs. Brand Ambassador Programs
• Social Media Rock Stars: Veteran, New and Rising Stars
• What Brands Want From Digital Women
• What is a Blogger Worth?
• Rate Cards, Guidelines, and Disclosure
• The 10 Rules of the Road, Putting it All Together

The feedback CFC received about its website, Facebook page and Twitter posts was amazing; people were really supportive of our growing online presence, giving us all kinds of, kudos, tips and advice– we had a chance to really connect with these top digital women and learn more about the kinds of information they want from us.  It also gave us a chance to answer all kinds of questions about chicken and chicken farming. 

We really valued the chance to attend this event and we look forward to keeping our online presence growing!

Stay tuned because I’ll be blogging about the event next week!

 

Nearly 300 agriculture journalists, broadcasters and communicators arrived in Canada last week for the 2011 International Federation of Agricultural Journalists annual congress.

Held in Guelph and Niagara Falls, the congress’ theme was “Experience New World Agriculture” and featured delegates from 30 member countries.

The honorary Chair, Lyle Vanclief, former minister of agriculture welcomed visitors to Canada and Pierre Lemieux, the Secretary of State for Agriculture, presented introductory remarks on behalf of Agriculture Minister, Gerry Ritz.

After a day of annual meetings, and a session entitled Canada 101, delegates boarded coaches and participated in three different agriculture tours of southern and eastern Ontario.

The Lake Huron tour (the tour I was part of) visited the St. Jacob’s Farmers’ Market – Canada’s largest year-round farmers’ market, the Martin Family Fruit Farm – one of the largest fruit farms and fruit packers in southern Ontario, the Hensall District Cooperative – the largest independent farmer-owned agricultural cooperative in Ontario and one of the world’s largest processors and suppliers of edible beans, Danzel Holsteins a free-stall dairy operation with 100 cows, FGC Inc. – a hog and poultry barn builder with construction sites around Ontario and some new projects in Russia, the 2^nd largest cattle feedlot in Ontario – a 10,000 head operation owned by the Van Osch family, and finally a tour of one of Canada’s largest wineries, Jackson Triggs.

Delegates, both international and those from Canada, were very impressed with the stories these farmers and businesses had to tell. There were many, many stories to take in and the journalists took the opportunity to ask their own questions of the producers. Every visit felt a bit like a media scrum but without the tension or pointed questions.

Delegates on other buses also toured the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario regions. Some had a fair distance to cover which put into context the distances that Canada’s food producers, and products, must travel on a daily basis as part of doing business in such a large country. There were many references to how big Canada was in comparison to the home countries of the delegates. The CEO of Hensall District Cooperative, Earl Wagner, added context to explain how geography is an added dimension or challenge here in Canada. “Our vehicles cover 3 million km per year which is the same as 75 trips around the earth” he said.

The three tours met up again in Niagara at the end of the week and the visitors had time to compare notes, and ask more questions, about all the things they had seen along the way. This included some pre-congress tours in British Columbia and Alberta as well as workshops and a boot camp for winners of the 2011 IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agriculture Journalism award. This boot camp provided participants with expert training and feedback through on-site writing or broadcasting assignments and further developed their leadership skills through formal in-class training.

Before, during (and it’s still going on after) the four-day congress, there was a significant amount of Twitter and Facebook chatter between delegates, about the tours, about the congress itself, and about the 2012 congress in Sweden. Organizers provided a portal on the congress website at www.ifaj2011.com to harness all the messages on Twitter that used the #ifaj hash tag. In many cases, the journalists were filing stories and blogs on the fly so the content was coming out “as-it-happened”.

Over the days since the event, it was clear that all participants thoroughly enjoyed the exposure to Canada’s “New World Agriculture” and their chance to meet Canada’s agriculture communicators in their home setting. The organizers did a bang-up job and were saluted at the closing ceremonies and the handing over of the IFAJ flag to the Swedish delegation.

With promises of seeing each other next year, delegates left Niagara Falls to either head straight home to recover from the whirlwind week or went off to even further Canadian agriculture adventures on the Atlantic coast in New Brunswick.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 22, 2011 (Ottawa, ON)—Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC) today announced that Quebec-based processor Exceldor has been chosen, following a call for bids, to provide frozen chicken products for 2011 to the Ottawa Food Bank via CFC’s Chicken Challenge food donation program.

As part of its new Corporate Social Responsibility Program, Under our Wing, which was launched in late 2009, CFC, in partnership with the Ottawa Food Bank, created a pilot project of the Chicken Challenge in 2010.  Under the pilot project, CFC purchased chicken products from processors through a bidding process managed quarterly by CFC, and donated the product to the Ottawa Food Bank. From April to November 2010, frozen chicken products totaling $50,000 were delivered to the Ottawa Food Bank. This successful pilot project has led to the full launch of the Chicken Challenge with our partner for 2011, Exceldor.

Since 2007, CFC has been a proud partner and supporter of The Ottawa Food Bank. Each year, through proceeds from the Canada Day Great Canadian Chicken Barbecue as well as staff donations, CFC continues to support the mission of the Ottawa Food Bank. Since 2007, about $87,400 has been raised.

“We are proud to support a great charity and to give back to the community which has been our home for more than 30 years,” said David Fuller, Chair of CFC.

In addition, Under our Wing includes donations via CFC employee payroll contributions which will likely top $2,500 in 2011. We are also pleased that B.C.-based Sunrise Farms made a special donation of approximately 600 frozen stuffed chicken breasts to the Ottawa Food Bank earlier this month.

The Ottawa Food Bank’s mission statement is “to collect and distribute food to member agencies serving people in need in the Ottawa area." The Ottawa Food Bank provides 43,000 people each month with emergency food assistance, 37% of whom are children, and supports 145 food programs throughout the Ottawa Region.

“Our partnership with the CFC gives the Ottawa Food Bank an incredible boost in terms of being able to provide the added protein of chicken to our beneficiaries’ diets,” says Peter Tilley, Executive Director of the Ottawa Food Bank. “The Chicken Challenge food donation program is yet another way the CFC is supporting those in need in our community and we are grateful.”

Chicken Farmers of Canada is responsible for chicken raised and sold commercially in Canada. We represent our 2,800 farmers, and ensure that the chicken that reaches your table is safe, delicious, and raised to the highest standards.

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For more information: please contact Marty Brett, Senior Communications Officer at 613-566-5926 or mbrett@chicken.ca.  Chicken Farmers of Canada is online at www.chicken.ca.

Chicken Farmers of Canada

1007- 350 Sparks Street

Ottawa, ON   K1R 7S8

www.chicken.ca

It is little known that in good times, as in bad ones, it is our domestic Canadian market that represents the major source of revenue for our farmers and the food industry. Much too often people use the expression “Canada is a trading nation”, to the point where we’ve come to believe that foreigners buy most of what is produced in this country. That may be true for some industries, but it does not accurately represent the agriculture and agri-food sectors. The biggest market for Canada’s farmers and processors is Canada. The Canadian agriculture and agri-food market is a vibrant one that encourages growth in value-added processing. Canada’s farmers are the foundation of that growth. In net terms, 70% of the value of all the food produced in Canada (counting both the farm level production and the food processing industry) is sold right here to our fellow Canadians. This calculation is based on data provided by the Food and Value Chain Bureau of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and accounts for the fact that some of the primary production is used as an input in food processing. Only 30% of Canadian agriculture and agri-food products are actually exported. Of the Canadian production, 20% goes to our NAFTA partners (Mexico and United States) with whom we enjoy free trade relations and a preferential market access, and the remaining 10% is exported throughout the rest of the world. It is safe to say that our Canadian consumers are supporting tens of thousands of jobs in farming and food processing on a continuous basis, dire times or not, and for that we are so grateful! Canada’s chicken farmers are proud to raise the quality chicken that Canadians trust.

Animal safety and care is our focus in this last installment of our series of posts, giving you the story of chicken- from gate to plate. Canadian chickens are raised in a proper environment of large barns, which are heated and well ventilated. Our chickens are not kept in cages and roam freely on floors that are covered with soft, dry bedding or litter. They are given clean water and feed. Between 6 and 8 weeks in the barns, the chickens are transported to the processing plants in trucks designed for shipping poultry with a flock sheet. A flock sheet is a form used by farmers to record specific information about such things as feed, any medications used, number of birds placed, etc. The flock sheet also serves as the farmers' assurance to the other links in the food chain that the birds have been produced in accordance with the strictest government and industry guidelines and regulations. At the processing plant, an inspector checks every chicken, making sure the chickens are healthy, safe and are ready to be sold to the consumer. After each flock has left the barn for the processing plants, the barn, the floor and the equipment are disinfected and the litter is changed. The barns are left vacant for nearly a week before a new flock arrives. Chicken farmers across Canada follow a strict on-farm food safety program, which sets the standards for raising the chicken Canadians trust. Stringent record keeping is an important component of on-farm food safety and allows Canadian chicken farmers to participate in quality control, traceability, and disease control. Canada's chicken farmers firmly believe that animals should be treated with care. In fact, for the last 20 years, all industry partners have worked to develop guidelines and regulations governing animal care practices in Canada. We work together to ensure that animals experience the least amount of stress possible.

Farm writers seeking networking and professional development opportunities gathered up the wagons and headed west to the 2009 CFWF annual conference, September 10-12 in Edmonton, Alberta. “The Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation annual conference is the place to be for networking and professional development if you write or broadcast about agriculture,” says John Greig, CFWF President. “The mix of interesting farm tours, stimulating learning and fun with colleagues has been a success.” “The conference theme is Shaping the Future Marketplace: The Opportunity Hunters,” says Janet Kanters, CFWF conference co-chair. “We wanted to feature Alberta producers, businesses and other leading authorities on how they are facing change head-on, and finding opportunity within that change.” Delegates arriving at the Radisson South attended the welcome reception, opened by Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development’s Parliamentary Assistant, Doug Griffiths, an ardent promoter of rural development and author of “13 Ways to Kill a Community”. On Friday, September 11, delegates had their pick of three tours to get a first-hand look at farming operations, agri-businesses, and agricultural organizations in the Edmonton area. Tour One – Pioneers of Yesterday and Today – focused on family-oriented operations that are truly committed to agriculture, such as Highland Feeders and the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village. This is the one I joined – a separate blog report on that will follow soon. Tour Two – A Fork in the Road – included stops at Sunworks Organic Farm, the Footloose Caboose Lodge, and the Viking Hutterite Colony. Tour Three – Alberta Spuds and Suds – featured Alberta entrepreneurship at its finest, with visits to the Little Potato Company, the Multicultural Heritage Centre, Inspired Market Gardens and Alley Kat Brewing Company. All three tours met up for dinner and entertainment at the St. John’s Cultural Centre for a traditional Ukrainian supper and dancing/entertainment. The dance troupe, about 20 members strong, showed off blazing footwork, amazing cultural costumes and some high flying fun. Saturday was professional development day as delegates heard from speakers focusing on the conference theme, as well as other issues such as social marketing, lessons learned from the H1N1 outbreak, and more. The conference wrapped up on Saturday evening with a Taste of Alberta banquet and the CFWF awards program which recognized 44 award-winning writers and photographers. Founded in 1955, the CFWF serves the common interests of agricultural journalists, including reporters, editors and broadcasters as well as those in business and government whose primary responsibility is agricultural communications. The CFWF represents more than 380 members who belong to regional and provincial organizations, including:

• British Columbia Farm Writers' Association (BCFWA)
• Alberta Farm Writers' Association (AFWA)
• Saskatchewan Farm Writers' Association (SFWA)
• Manitoba Farm Writers' and Broadcasters' Association
• Eastern Canada Farm Writers' Association (ECFWA)

In this second part of our three part series of posts, we tell you what happens after chicks arrive to the farm from the hatchery and what exactly is in chicken feed. Chickens in Canada are raised in clean, well-ventilated, climate-controlled barns, where they can roam freely. The chicken barn is heated before the chicks are placed, in order to ensure they have warm, comfortable surroundings once they arrive from the hatchery. Feed systems and water lines are checked daily to ensure that birds always have unrestricted access to food and water. Heating, ventilation, humidity and other environmental levels are verified constantly, to ensure that the birds are comfortable and stress-free. The main ingredient of all chicken feed (88%) is grains and grain by-products, protein-producing seeds, and meal made from them such as canola or soybean meal. So, essentially, all chickens are "grain-fed." In much smaller quantities (around 10%), various other protein sources such as meat and bone meal/vegetable fats, are added to improve the nutritional content, taste and texture of the feed. In much, much smaller quantities (1.5%), mineral and vitamin supplements are commonly added to prevent any nutrient deficiencies. Chickens are not given any hormones or steroids. Hormones and steroid use in Canada has been illegal since the 1960s. Moreover, chicken is tested by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to ensure that there are absolutely no medication residues that could cause any risk to human health. In the final installment of this three part series, we talk about animal safety and how the chickens get from the farm to the consumer.

As a part of its mandate, Chicken Farmers of Canada runs a Promotion/Education Campaign designed to attack misinformation, provide information and target specific audiences with honest information about chicken in Canada. The program is designed with initiatives and enhanced education/marketing materials for disseminating nutritional information and dispelling misperceptions. As a result of this program, CFC now has national tools aimed at dispelling myths about how chickens are raised and addressing topical issues, such as hormones, steroids, husbandry and more. We also now have great tools, resources, school kits, videos and a large online component. To complement this program, CFC also runs an Ambassador Training Program, stemming from the belief that all our farmers are, in fact, ambassadors for our industry. Recent studies have shown that farmers, in particular, are trusted to provide honest and accurate information about their industries.  We believe that this as an important opportunity to use farmers and other key industry representatives to provide information to the next generation of consumers – as a companion to all the materials we develop. The Ambassador Training Program has as its objectives:

• To provide selected provincial representatives the tools to speak publicly to media and the general public about chicken farming and other related topics.
• To provide these same representatives with the resources required to answer difficult and challenging questions about the industry.
• To provide an additional speaker to provincial boards for individual media and public relations opportunities.
• To serve as a companion to the Promotion/Education Program – buttressing the program through firsthand storytelling and honest, meaningful information.

Ambassadors learn a wide variety of skills during their training, which is offered in beginner and advanced sessions, including: •    How to arrange an interview •    How to conduct an interview •    How to answer tough questions •    How to get the point across In some cases, Ambassadors are trained in more general public relations skills, including: •    How to present to children, adolescents, adults and more •    How to anticipate questions the audience can ask •    How to answer difficult questions •    How to get the message through Participants take this knowledge of the audience and develop a presentation incorporating what they’ve learned, as well as any local issues that will answer the questions and concerns of the audience. Programs like this allow us to have a far greater outreach to our key consumers and helps to continue our open dialogue. If you are interested in booking a farmer to speak at your event, let us know and we’ll help in any way we can. Our email is cfc@chicken.ca