QUAC Online Survey

Quota Use & Access Consultation (QUAC) Survey

Introduction:
Supply management is a uniquely Canadian concept, which ensures that farmers only produce enough product to meet public demand and that farmers receive a fair price for their product. Canadian consumers have a reliable supply of chicken, dairy, egg, and turkey products. The system relies on three pillars to function: import controls; price controls and production controls (a quota system).

The BCCMB’s vision is to support an innovative, growing and sustainable chicken industry. To achieve this, the Board relies on several principles to guide its policy decision-making. Here are a few of these principles to keep in mind as you consider your views on the BC chicken quota system.

Sustainability: to maintain chicken production as older growers retire and exit the industry.
Renewal: to promote innovation and progressive ideas within the industry, by ensuring new growers can enter the industry.
Trust: to help maintain the social license granted to growers in a supply-managed industry, by promoting entry (reasonable access to quota) for interested new growers in system with barriers to entry. Trust, in turn, requires transparency and accountability.

The responses from the survey will be considered on a macro level by the Board, but individual written responses that highlight key issues may also be shared. However, all of the responses will be anonymized. The survey does not ask for your name but does ask you to identify your role/interest in the industry. The survey should take approx. 10-15 min. to complete. Thank you for sharing your viewpoint through the survey!
1.SECTION I: Interests & Values
What is your role/interest in the BC chicken industry? If more than one category applies to you, please check the one that best represents your interest in the industry.
2.In what BC region do you mainly work and live?(Required.)
3.Managing the chicken supply through a quota system accomplishes several primary objectives. For example, one objective is to ensure that production meets consumer demand in an efficient manner at a fair return to producers. However, a quota system may also accomplish a few other supplementary objectives. From your perspective, what supplementary objectives should the Board look to enhance/maintain for the industry when it considers future quota policy options?

Please rank the following objectives as: Not important; Important, but not essential; or Very important(Required.)
Not important at all
Important, but not essential
Very important
a. To maintain family farms over a long period of time.
b. To redistribute some growth from very large farms to smaller farms.
c. To prevent the consolidation of farms
d. To ensure that entry into chicken production is accessible for new, young growers.
e. To ensure consumer demand and changing preferences are met by the industry.
f. To encourage innovation in the industry.
g. To encourage (or maintain) farms in regions outside of the Lower Mainland.
h. To ensure local food security.
4.SECTION II: Current access to chicken quota in BC
What are some of the challenges of BC's current chicken quota system from your perspective? Please click as many as apply.(Required.)
5.How easy is it to acquire chicken quota in BC?(Required.)
6.Are you generally aware of (and know how to find out) the cost of chicken quota in BC?(Required.)
7.Do larger growers currently have an unfair advantage with respect to their ability to acquire quota?(Required.)
8.What, if anything, would you like to see changed with respect to BC’s chicken quota system?
9.Section III: Potential Centralized Platform(s) for Quota Transfers

Currently there is no centralized platform of any kind for growers to transfer chicken quota in BC. Rather, quota is transferred privately through hatchery/processor/industry professionals and grower connections.

A centralized platform for quota transfers could range from simply a virtual “bulletin board” with voluntary postings for quota advertisements to Board-required (mandatory) quota transfer postings or a central (mandatory) quota exchange, which provides a medium for quota transfers that is published and managed by the Board. This last option is the type of quota exchange currently operated by the BC Milk and BC Egg Marketing Boards.

In your opinion, would a centralized, mandatory quota exchange for quota transfers, like the BC Milk and BC Egg Marketing Boards currently use, be a good idea for the BC chicken industry?
(Required.)
10.If a quota exchange (mentioned in Q9 above) was established for the BC chicken industry, should any buyers of quota be assigned priority access to available quota on the exchange?(Required.)
11.If a quota exchange (mentioned in Q9 above) was established for the BC chicken industry, should any sellers of quota be assigned priority to sell their quota before others?(Required.)
12.If you do not support the idea of a quota exchange for the BC chicken industry, please choose a preferred option below or describe any other ways that you think the Board could improve transparency and access to quota.(Required.)
13.Section IV: Quota Use, Issuance, Assessments

Should the Board consider issuing growers permanent increases in quota holdings more frequently?
*Please note, issuing quota does not mean more production as it would replace some of the pro rata allocations done each period (i.e. rebasing)
(Required.)
14.Currently, when individual growers sell quota, they are not assessed individually for a 5% deduction. Rather, these 5% assessments (the purpose of which is to give back to industry & fund NEGs) are done in January every year with the Board calculating the prior three years of quota transfers to establish a “rolling” average of kgs transferred per year.

Then, 5% of that average number is the assessed amount (kgs) for the year. This amount of kgs is then deducted from the overall industry pro-rata distribution. This amount (kgs) is, in turn, used to fund the New Entrant Growers Program.

Should the Board re-evaluate this method?

Note: This method of calculating quota transfer assessments for funding the NEG program is found in Schedule 9 of the BCCMB General Orders
(Required.)
15.Pro rata distribution is where growers all receive the same set percentage (for example, say 5%) of board-issued (no cost) quota. This quota is distributed periodically to meet growth in demand. Example (using 5%): a grower with 10,000 kgs of quota will receive 500kgs; and a grower with 100,000 kgs of quota will receive 5,000 kgs. (Keep in mind that growers cannot accept quota if they do not have the barn space to grow it.)

Should the Board reconsider how it currently distributes growth allocations (pro rata distribution method), where larger growers receive larger net growth?(Required.)
16.Should the Board reconsider if regionally assigned quota should (or can be) adjusted/shifted in any way? (i.e. Interior quota is tied to the Interior, Vancouver Island quota is tied to Vancouver Island)(Required.)
17.The Board is required to take a transfer assessment on any Board-issued quota, if/when it is sold. This is commonly referred to as the "declining transfer assessment of 10-10-0." 10% is assessed for each of 10 years after the quota was issued. Assessments are 0% at year 10 and beyond. (Part 35, page 50 of the BCCMB General Orders)

Currently direct family transfers are exempt from the declining transfer assessment (10-10-0). Direct family is defined as spouse, sons & daughters, and siblings. Should the Board consider expanding the current exempt transfers?

If you answer “yes,” please explain who, for example, you think should be eligible for any exempt quota transfer? Please include this in the space provided.(Required.)
18.Currently all leases need to be submitted for approval to the Board within 30 days of the production allocation being issued to growers.

With “after-the-fact” leasing, growers may submit leases after they’ve shipped and thus, they can make production adjustments to balance their over or under-production (after-the-fact). However, this does create an increased risk of over-production penalties at a national level, which would have to be paid by growers. It also could mean that over and under production sleeves may need to be adjusted.

Keeping these factors in mind, should the Board consider allowing “after-the-fact” leasing in BC?(Required.)
19.Do you have any other comments/concerns or suggestions related to the access and use of chicken quota in BC that you would like to share with the Board?
20.Do you have any other general comments, questions or suggestions that you would like to share with the Board?
Current Progress,
0 of 20 answered