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Ballantine, who did not respond to an interview request, said she booked slaughter appointments before her animals were born to ensure she could get a time. Even so, she sometimes had to overwinter animals that couldn’t be processed, resulting in increased feeding expenses.
“I don’t even want to get into the cost of that,” she said. “I am literally going to be paying to feed my community because British Columbia doesn’t have the supports in place to get secure processing for its farmers.”
Smith said she’s afraid other farmers will follow Ballantine if the situation doesn’t improve. She now raises 12 hogs every three months, rather than 12 a month, which was her intention when she moved from Burnaby to Merritt in search of affordable farmland five years ago.
“We have no path to growth,” she said. “We bought this place based on a business plan, and we’re only doing a third of what we need to do.”
Slaughter system faces challenges
In Abbotsford, Mark Robbins and his daughter Jill Azanza have also been forced to scale back their poultry farm because local processors won’t kill and cut their pasture-raised turkeys, which are larger than average.
In the case of K & M Farms, there are several poultry processing plants nearby with capacity to handle more birds, but the plants are unwilling or unable to do custom orders.
“It’s too much hassle for them,” said Robbins.
As a result, the farm went from raising about 1,500 turkeys in 2016 to none in 2020. This year, they plan to raise about 500, but they’ll have to ensure they weigh less and will have to pay for more processing compared to a large turkey operation.
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