Hiding Hens and Dodging the Chicken Police: Realities of Organic Egg Farming on the Saanich Peninsula

Katie Wagner

The organic food movement originated as an alternative to perceived harms of industrial food production. Outfitted with a radical critique of agribusiness and an aim to change mainstream practices, organic farmers in British Columbia have achieved provincially recognized certification standards and rapid growth in consumer demand for their produce and products. Gaining this public and political support indicates organics can be classified as a successful social movement (Michelsen 2001). Yet success has not arrived without consequences, and the ongoing battle between organic egg farmers and the BC egg marketing board may be seen as part of a new challenge for a successful organic food movement: remaining an alternative to industrial agriculture as corporate interests become drawn to and affected by the growing organic market.

The “egg struggle” as it is dubbed by BC Organic Grower, arose because organic farmers developed their own markets for eggs without quota and assistance from marketing boards. The board that originally saw no need to include their sector now expects organic farmers with more than 99 laying hens to buy preexisting quota if they wish to conduct business. As 69% of certified organic farmers licensed with COABC have gross incomes under $20,000 (BCOG 2003), requiring such small scale farmers to buy into an expensive system could be detrimental to most of BC’s organic egg business. Furthermore, many organic farmers have expressed outrage at being forced to pay levies which will go to support production systems such as caged laying hens. This paper uses interview narrative to explore a political struggle faced by the organic movement in BC as it directly affects the lived experience, farming practices and ideology of a small scale organic farmer on Vancouver Island.

Full Paper

Source
Presented at the Social Research in Organic Agriculture Symposium. Guelph, Ontario. January 2005


Author Location and Affiliation
University of Victoria, Department of Sociology,alikaimo@hotmail.com


en français