Glossary of Terms

Allocation: The allocation by CFC to a province for a period fixing the quantity of chicken that may be marketed by producers of that province in inter-provincial and export trade.

Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS): Indicator of the overall level of domestic support provided by each country to its agri-food sector in the Amber Box category.

Agriculture Policy Framework: A series of policies within Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, designed to make Canada a world leader in agriculture for the next century. The policy framework focuses on five key pillars of agriculture: Business Risk Management; Food Safety and Quality; Environment; Science and Innovation; and Renewal.

Air Chilled Chicken: Air chilled chicken is not immersed in water to chill it. It is either moved through cold air or has cold air blown onto it. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is currently determining the air-chilled standards for the processing industry.

Amber Box Programs: A term that describes domestic support policies that are trade distorting and subject to reduction commitments under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture; for example: direct payments and input subsidies.

Animal Nutrition Association of Canada (ANAC): Industry association representing the commercial feed mill operators. (Formerly called the Canadian Feed Industry Association).

Annual Weighted Average Price to Consumers: Average price paid by consumers as reported by AAFC; weighted on provincial production.

Biosecurity: Generally means the safety of living things. For the chicken industry, this includes food products and all links in the chain, from renderers down to consumers. For chicken producers, it means protecting their flocks from any type of infectious agent — viral, bacterial, fungal, or parasitic. Generally accepted biosecurity measures are included in the CFC On-Farm Food Safety Assurance Program.

Blue Box Programs: A term that describes domestic support policies that are not subject to reduction commitments under the Agreement on Agriculture. These programs are payments from production-limiting program.

Bound Tariff Rates, Tariff 'binding': Tariff rates resulting from GATT/WTO negotiations. These tariffs are fixed and can not be increased.

Broiler: A type of chicken raised for meat only.

Broiler Hatching Eggs: Eggs that produce chicken.

Cairns Group: An informal association of 18 agricultural exporting countries, formed in 1986 at Cairns, Australia. The Cairns Group includes major food exporters such as Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Fiji, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Uruguay.

Canadian Adaptation & Rural Development Program (CARD): A federal program designed to facilitate the efforts of Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector by providing funding to respond positively to changes by taking advantage of new opportunities, meeting future challenges and becoming more competitive in the changing global marketplace. CARD funds have helped CFC develop and implement the On-Farm Food Safety Assurance Program. Provincial boards have also been allocated CARD funds to establish a validation structure for the On-Farm Food Safety Program.

Canadian Consumption of Chicken: The amount of chicken (in eviscerated kilograms) that is consumed in Canada.

Canadian Broiler Council (CBC): A Standing Committee of CFC that is composed of members of the Canadian Broiler Council. Its purpose is to advise CFC on matters of concern to the Provincial Commodity Boards and to the producers in the provinces represented by the Canadian Broiler Council.

Canadian Broiler Hatching Egg Marketing Agency (CBHEMA): Created in 1986, CBHEMA is a national marketing agency run by a seven-member board. The board of directors includes representatives from the five member provincial commodity boards (Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia) and two representatives appointed by the Governor-in-Council. The CBHEMA elects a chairperson each year from its membership.

The CBHEMA regulates the production of broiler hatching eggs (the eggs used in chicken production) through orderly marketing. Each year, the Agency sets a national allocation for broiler hatching egg production, which it divides between the member provincial boards. The boards then allocate quota to individual producers. This allocation takes into account the needs of chicken producers in both member and non-member provinces. Any movement of eggs or chicks between member and non-member provinces is regulated by the Agency. The Agency also administers penalties for provincial over and under-production.

Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors (CCGD): The Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors is a non-profit association representing Canadian distributors and marketers of food and grocery related products.

Canadian Egg Marketing Agency (CEMA): Created in 1972, CEMA is a national marketing agency run by producers. Its board of directors includes representatives from the 10 member provincial commodity boards, 3 representatives from the Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council, and 1 representative from the Consumers' Association of Canada. The CEMA elects a chairperson each year from its own membership. CEMA manages the supply of eggs in Canada. Each year, it estimates what the table and processing markets will need and establishes a national quota. The Agency divides this quota between the provincial boards, which allocate it to individual producers.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA): The creation of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in April 1997, brought together inspection and related services previously provided through the activities of four federal government departments — Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Health Canada, and Industry Canada. Establishment of the CFIA consolidated the delivery of all federal food, animal, and plant health inspection programs.

CFIA delivers 14 inspection programs related to foods, plants, and animals in 18 regions across Canada. CFIA's role is to enforce the food safety and nutritional quality standards established by Health Canada and, for animal health and plant protection, to set standards and carry out enforcement and inspection.

The cope of their mandate is vast and complex. Activities range from the inspection of federally registered meat processing facilities to border inspections for foreign pests and diseases, to the enforcement of practices related to fraudulent labeling. They also verify the humane transportation of animals, conduct food investigations and recalls and perform laboratory testing and environmental assessments of seeds, plants, feeds, and fertilizers. CFIA is Canada's federal food safety, animal health, and plant protection enforcement agency.

Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT): The Canadian International Trade Tribunal is an administrative tribunal operating within Canada's trade remedies system. It is an independent quasi- judicial body that carries out its statutory responsibilities in an autonomous and impartial manner and reports to Parliament through the Minister of Finance. The Tribunal's mandate is to:

• conduct inquiries into whether dumped or subsidized imports have caused, or are threatening to cause, material injury to an industry;

• hear appeals of decisions of the Department of National Revenue made under the Customs Act, the Excise Tax Act and the Special Import Measures Act;

• conduct inquiries and provide advice on such economic, trade, and tariff issues as are referred to the Tribunal by the Governor-in-Council or the Minister of Finance;

• conduct inquiries into complaints by potential suppliers concerning procurement by the federal government that is covered by the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Agreement of International Trade and the World trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement;
• conduct safeguard inquiries into complaints by domestic producers that increased imports are causing, or threatening to cause serious injury to domestic producers; and
• conduct investigations into requests from Canadian producers for tariff relief on imported textile inputs that they use in production operations.

Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council (CPEPC): The Poultry and Egg Processors Industry Association representing over 90% of the Canadian chicken industry processors and hatchery operations.

Canadian Restaurant and Foodservice Association (CRFA): The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservice Association is the largest hospitality association in Canada. Founded in 1944, CRFA now has more than 15,500 members who represent over 46,500 foodservice outlets in Canada. Members include all types of restaurants, as well as hotels, caterers, institutions, educators and foodservice suppliers.

Canadian Turkey Marketing Agency (CTMA): Created in 1974, CTMA is a national marketing agency run by producers. Its board of directors includes representatives from eight-member provincial commodity boards (Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, where there is little turkey production, are not members), two representatives from Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council, and one from the Further Poultry Processors Association of Canada.

The CTMA manages the production of turkey to meet market needs. Each year the Agency consults with various sectors of the turkey industry and estimates the volume of turkey needed nationally. The Agency divides this figure between the provincial boards, which then allocate production quota to registered producers. Each year, the provincial boards also sign a "Promotion Agreement" under which they agree to pay the Agency damages for any overproduction and to accept a reduction in their quota allotment for the following year, equal to the amount of overproduction.

Chicken Grower/Chicken Producer: A farmer who raised chicken for meat.

Chicken Industry: A term designating all those who are directly or indirectly involved in the production and marketing of chicken and chicken products.

Code of Practice: Set of good manufacturing or production procedures accepted by industry and the general public.

Condemned Chicken: Carcasses condemned by an official veterinarian/inspector at the processing plant, further to the detection of condemnable defects and/or pathology.

Common Agricultural Policy (CAP): The agricultural policy of the European Union. The CAP has two components: market policy and structural policy.

Constituency: Residents of an electoral district who are entitled to elect a representative to the federal or provincial parliament.

Constituency Captain: A designated SM-4 farmer who meets regularly with the local MP to communicate the interests of all SM-$ farmers within their riding.

Constituency Captain Program: An SM-4 program involving select farmers who maintain contact with their MPs and keep them informed of certain issues, this is an element of CFC's grassroots government relations program.

Contact Farming: Term used by American processors. Process by which a chicken farmer is paid by a corporation, a set price for each kilogram of chicken produced. The chicken farmer provides the barn, equipment and labour and the corporation provides the chicks, feed and technical and professional support.

Cost of Production (COP): The average cost of raising chicken, determined through a producer survey. The COP calculation includes the cost of chicks, feed, labour, capital (excluding quota) and operating expenses.

Data Handbook: A CFC annual publication which includes yearly information on the chicken industry in Canada and abroad (such a production imports, exports, prices, etc.) as well as consumption information on other meats.

Decoupled Support: Payments to farmers that are not linked to current production decisions.

De minimis rule: De minimis assistance is excluded from AMS in calculating the level of domestic support if it represents less than 5% of the value of production of the product considered. The non- commodity support is also considered de minimis if its value does not exceed 5% of the value of total agricultural output.

Doha Development Round: In November 2001 declaration of the fourth Ministerial conference on Doha, Qatar; provides the mandate for negotiations on a range of subjects including agriculture.

Downstream Industry: A sector of the chicken industry located after the farm gate.

E.Coli: Escherichia coli, bacteria found everywhere in the environment. Most often associated with beef and in particular hamburger meat. Some strains are highly pathogenic to birds and humans.

Ending Stocks: Level of frozen inventories at the end of the month or year.

Eviscerated Weight: A product's weight after it has been slaughtered, approximately 73.5% of the live weight (for broilers only).

Export Subsidies: Special incentives, such as cash payments, extended by governments to encourage increased foreign sales; often used when a nation's domestic price for a good is artificially raised above world market price.

Farm Cash Receipts: The cash income received from the sale of agricultural commodities as well as direct program payments made to support the agricultural sector.

"Fast track" Authority: "Fast track" authority gives the President of the United States of America Congressional approval in advance of any changes needed to the legislation. This means that the U.S. Congress would vote on a trade agreement without reopening any of its provisions, while retaining the ultimate power of voting for or against.

Federally Inspected Plants: Food processing plants registered under the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act or one of its components, eg, the Canadian Meat Inspection Act.

Feed Conversion Ratio: The amount of feed it takes for a chicken to grow one kilogram.

Flock Information Reporting Form/ Flock Sheet: Forms to be filled out 3-4 days prior to shipping birds to the processing plants and to accompany the flock on its way to the plants.

Food Safety Enhancement Program (FSEP): Program designed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to oversee the implementation and the verification of the food industry HAACP programs.

Free-range: See Range Grown Product.

Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA): The Free Trade Area of the Americas was officially launched in December, 1994 by leaders from 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere resolved to "begin immediately to construct the FTAA, in which barriers to trade and investment will be progressively eliminated."

Fill Rate: The percentage of the TRQ that has been imported.

Government Relations Program: CFC's consistent effort to establish and maintain relations with government officials in order to create a cooperative climate in which industry issues can be discussed and acted upon.

Grain-fed Chicken: Misleading term as all chickens are grain fed.

Green Box Programs: Popular term that describes domestic support policies that are not subject to reduction commitments under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture. These programs are assumed to affect trade minimally, and include policies related to such activities as research, extension, food security stocks, disaster payments, the environment, and structural adjustment programs.

Harbinson Modalities: Stuart Harbinson, chair of the negotiations on agriculture, released a draft modalities text that searches for the compromises that are necessary for a final agreement.

Harmonized System (HS): The Harmonized System refers to the universal national tariff structures in a common format (to the six digit level).

Import Control List (ICL): A list of goods, subject to TRQ. Examples are whole chickens, chicken cuts, etc.

In-quota Tariff Rate (within-access commitments tariff rate): The rate of customs duty to be applied to quantities within the quantity specified under a tariff rate quota.

Levies: An amount of money that each regulated grower pays CFC based on the number of kilograms that he or she sells, which is used for administration and promotional purposes. Producers also pay additional levies to their provincial boards.

Listeria: Listeria moncytogenes is a human pathogen normally present in the chicken environment. It is easily destroyed by cooking and is a concern in ready to eat further processed products.

Live Price: Price paid to producers by processors for chicken (per kilogram, live weight).

Live Weight: Actual weight of a live bird.

Marek's Disease: Viral disease of poultry, usually well-controlled through vaccination and good production practices.

Market access: Opening of a domestic market to exporting countries, which allows imports to compete freely with similar domestic goods.

Market Access Level: The level of access that is granted as a percentage of the domestic market.

Mechanically Separated Meat (MSM or MDM): Once carcasses have been boned out (breast and legs), the remaining flesh attached to the bones of the thoracic and abdominal structures is pressed out. This by-product is used in further processed products such as wieners.

Minimum Access Commitment (MAC): The minimum level of access that must be allowed with relative ease. This figure is expressed as a percentage of the domestic consumption. The WTO minimum access level is generally 5% of consumption of the years 1986-1988. In Canada, the VVTO minimum access commitment for chicken is 7.5% of consumption due to historical access. Under NAFTA, Canada's minimum access for chicken is 7.5% of the previous year's domestic production.

Modalities: The Modalities are the WTO targets (including numerical targets) for achieving the objectives of the negotiations, as well as issues related to rules.

Modernized Poultry Inspection Program (MPIP): MPIP is an initiative led by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for the Government of Canada to modernize inspection procedures used in federally registered poultry slaughter establishments. Canada's major national poultry industry associations, as well as Health Canada and the Consumer's Association of Canada, have been actively involved in the design of MPIP. The goals of MPIP are to control microbial pathogens, such as Salmonella, in raw poultry and to enhance the use of science and risk-based management in Canada's poultry inspection system.

Most-favoured-nation (MFN) Treatment: This stipulates that countries must treat each of their trading partners on an equal basis.

Non-ICL: Goods that are not on the import control list (ICL) and can enter the country without any quantity restrictions. This covers chicken products that contain 13% or more of another item, e.g., chicken cordon bleu, chicken pot pie, etc.

Non-tariff Trade Barriers: Government measures, other than tariffs that restrict trade flow. Examples of non-tariff trade barriers include quantitative restrictions, import licensing, variable levies, and technical barriers to trade.

Organic Chicken: Specialty chicken produces under strict criteria determined by the Standards Council of Canada and certified by a registered certifying body.

Opening Stocks: Level of frozen inventories at the beginning of the month or year.

Over-quota Tariff Rate (over-access commitments tariff rate): The rate of customs duty to be applied to quantities in excess of the quantity specified under a tariff rate quota.

Per Capita Consumption: The amount of product consumed per individual.

Production Subsidy Equivalent (PSE): The value of transfers from consumers or taxpayers to the producers as a result of public aid programs.

Production: The amount of chicken produced in a province or in Canada during a given period of time, usually expressed in eviscerated weight. Nationally, production figures represent all chicken slaughtered in registered poultry processing plants across Canada, less the volume of live chicken imported. Provincial production numbers also include the amount of live chicken shipped out of province, but exclude live chicken shipped into the province.

Provincially Inspected Plants: Processing establishments under provincial inspection systems.

Provincial Market Requirements: A volume submitted by each province to CFC prior to setting an allocation for a period.

Quota: Expressed in kilograms, quota is the volume of allocation established by CFC that is expected to meet market demand during a period. CFC then allocates quota to each provincial marketing board, which in turn distributes it among provincial producers.

Range Grown Products (free-range): A production approach; CFC is still awaiting government to clearly define what constitutes a "free-range" bird.

Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS): Technical barriers designed for the protection of human health or the control of animal and plant pests and diseases.

Special Safeguard Provisions (SSP): Provisions within the Agreement on Agriculture designed to protect products which are subject to tariffication from surges in imports or large price declines.

SM-4: Also known as the "feather boards". They include Chicken, Turkey, Eggs, and Broiler Hatching Eggs.

SM-5: The five supply management organizations. They include Chicken, Dairy, Turkey, Eggs, and Broiler Hatching Eggs.

Sourcing: If there is a shortage of products on the market and DFAIT receives a request for supplementary permits, CFC is required to look for the product to see if there is any product available in Canada.

Special Differential Treatment: the WTO agreement contains special provisions which give developing countries special rights. These special provisions include, for example, longer time periods of implementing agreements and commitments or measures to increase trading opportunities for developing countries.

State Trading Enterprises (STE): Either a government agency or a non-government agency that has been granted exclusive or special privileges regarding imports or exports.

Supply and Consumption: Supply is what is available to be consumed on the market; consumption is what is consumed by the market.

Tariff: A tax imposed on commodity imports. A tariff may be in the form of either a fixed charge per unit (specific tariff) or a fixed percentage of value (ad valorem). There are three types of tariffs: ordinary tariffs (simple tariffs applied on all imports), in-quota tariffs (applied to within access commitments), and over-quota tariffs (applied to over access commitments).

Tariff Equivalents (over-quota tariffs or over-access commitments); Tariffs that represent about the same level of protection as the previous quantitative restrictions maintained in the base period.

Tariff Escalation: Means that a country sets low tariffs on imported materials used by an industry, and higher tariffs on finished products.

Tariff Peaks: Imposition of high tariff.

Tariff Quota Advisory Committee: An advisory committee to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to discuss tariff quota issues. The committee is composed of Poultry Industry Stakeholders.

Tariff Rate Quota: A quantitative limit (quota) applicable to imports above which a higher tariff is applied. The lower tariff rate applies to imports within the quota.

Tariffication: the process of converting non-tariff trade barriers to bound tariffs. The intent is to improve the transparency of existing agricultural trade barriers and facilitate their proposed reduction.

Technical Barriers to Trade: Refers to regulations, standards (including packing, marking and labeling requirements), testing and certification procedures, and other non-tariff barriers that can create obstacles to trade.

Uruguay Round: The name of the last round of WTO negotiations (1986-1994).

Wholesale/Processor Price: The price paid to processors by their buyers for chicken (per kilogram, eviscerated weight).

WTO: The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world's trading nations and ratified by their governments. Currently, 153 nations are members of the WTO. (July 2008)