Supply Management in Regulated Marketing
Last updated on May 21, 2024Under Canada’s supply management system, production and importation of broiler hatching eggs, chicken, table eggs, milk, and turkey are controlled nationally to ensure that
- Supply matches demand,
- Producers receive a fair return, and
- Consumers are assured a safe and continuous supply of quality product.
The three pillars of supply management are:
Production controls
The amount of each supply-managed commodity produced in Canada is controlled through a quota system. Federal agencies establish overall national market needs and then allocate quota shares to each of the provinces. The provincial marketing boards then manage production by issuing quota to individual producers, providing them with the right and the obligation to produce a specified quantity of product within a defined time period.
Import controls
The federal government controls imports through import permits and tariffs, regulating the amount of foreign products entering the Canadian marketplace.
Price stability
Provincial boards and commissions establish farm gate prices for supply-managed commodities, under a national marketing plan, to be paid by processors and graders (Natural Products Marketing (BC) Act section 11(1)(k)).
The supply-managed system operates within a framework of federal and provincial policies, legislation and regulations. Administering supply-managed commodities requires cooperation between the federal government, the provinces, the national marketing agencies and their supervisory agency – Farm Products Council of Canada (FPCC) – as well as all of the provincial boards and commissions and their supervisory agencies. In each supply-managed sector, this is achieved through a Federal-Provincial Agreement (FPA).
- Read more about BCFIRB’s supervisory activities at the national level