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Burlington, Ont.-area farmer Andrew Macdonald tried selling chicken meat from his farm gate for almost three years before “throwing up [his] hands” in defeat.

It just wasn’t viable, he said.

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“If we could raise 1,000 chickens a year, the economies of scale are such that it could be a profitable enterprise,” he said.

However, Ontario’s supply management system limits small-flock farmers like him to fewer than 300 birds. “Most people I talk to sell all their birds and get free chicken for the year. But as an actual enterprise, where you’re going to count your labour facilities, transport and costs associated there, there’s just not the economies of scale there, with 300 birds, to make it worthwhile.”

We quickly ran into some regulatory roadblocks

And so he now turns down the steady stream of customers who come to his farm gate seeking his meaty, pasture-raised birds.

As consumers are increasingly demanding locally-raised chickens who peck at grass and are reared on sunlight, the province’s strict supply management system has made it all but impossible for small-farmers to compete with a concentrated number of large-scale chicken producers in central Ontario. If a farmer wants to grow his flock beyond the 300-bird limit, he has to purchase a quota; the minimum is 14,000 production units — equivalent to approximately 90,000 chickens per year — at an estimated cost of about $1.75 million.