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Klassen Family

Manitoba - Leonard Klassen

Once a chicken farmer, always a chicken farmer, right? A chicken is a chicken is a chicken, right? Well, not exactly.

Leonard Klassen, along with his wife Kim and their three children are “dual-commodity” farmers, which, in this case means they raise two different kinds of chickens.

Located just outside Grunthal, Manitoba, the Klassen farm has two barns. One for broilers (birds raised for meat) and one for their hatching egg birds. Having these two supply management farms provides the family with economic stability and fulfils their love of country living.

Raised on a broiler farm, Leonard moved to the hatching egg side of things and built his operation over the past 20 years. Then, five years ago, his family invested in chicken quota to diversify the operation.

A member of the Board of Directors of the Manitoba Chicken Producers, which now represents both hatching egg farmers and broiler farmers, Leonard’s background of 20 years as a hatching egg producer, combined with his experience raising broilers, has made him an ideal contributor to the industry.

“Communication between the broiler and hatching industries has improved by 100%,” he says, “not to imply that communication was poor before, it has just been made better, which makes for better planning.”

Klassen also maintains that another contributor to better planning is the stable policy environment offered by supply management.

“Supply management gives us a fair return on our investment,” says Leonard, “it is also provides us with the lifestyle that we rely on for raising our children. A strong, healthy industry that doesn’t require subsidies should be something to be proud of and our governments should continue to work on our behalf.”

All five Klassens work on the farm and each of the children (ages 9, 11 and 12) plays a different role in daily chores while Leonard and Kim both work full time on the farm. The family also has two part-time workers to help out, especially when Leonard is busy with Board activities.

Leonard understands that farming in Canada could be severely impacted by the ongoing trade negotiations at the WTO. “The impact is potentially huge,” he says, “we need to make sure that our bureaucrats and government representatives understand our needs.”

He goes on to say, “Our negotiators have a difficult task, weaving their way through the minefield to keep supply management intact in Canada while still keeping the other exporting industries happy.”

Leonard is quick to point out that supply management is a domestic industry where producers buy and sell product locally in support of the rural economy. The feed mill where he buys all his feed for the farm is only 20 kilometres away and the processing plant is about 25 km away.

Leonard holds an optimistic vision for the Manitoban and Canadian chicken industries, provided all goes well at the WTO. He predicts that it will continue to grow, slowly but steadily. “We are being led by good people who are going in the right direction,” he said.

The Klassens are great examples of Canadian farmers. They represent our healthy and hopeful farm families that deserve a fair return for their hard work and some quality time to enjoy each other.

Farmer Profiles

Chicken Farmers of Canada: 350 Sparks Street, Suite 1007, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 7S8 Tel: (613) 241-2800 Fax: (613) 241-5999 Email: cfc@chicken.ca