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Farmer Profile – Terry Knippel (SK)

Saskatchewan - Terry Knippel

45 minutes north of Saskatoon, nestled in the heart of Canada’s bread basket, is the chicken farm belonging to Terry and Carol Knippel.
 
Chicken farmers since January 1, 2002, and before that dairy and grain farmers for 30 years, the Knippels have found raising broilers to be very rewarding.
 
“The chicken industry gives us stable and steady income,” said Terry. “Our supply management system keeps the industry and prices stable which enables all stakeholders to make smart business decisions and helps with future planning.”
 
After building their new barn and getting into the chicken industry, the Knippels found that working in an evolving industry to be quite challenging.
 
“We need, as an industry, to keep working on efficiencies, things like inputs. Feed and electricity continue to be major factors in our industry,” said Terry.
 
A major part of the new construction was the ability to start from scratch with the latest technology. Their barn is almost completely computer controlled – ventilation, temperature, feed and water, weigh scales, etc. Terry isn’t stopping there, though, and continues to monitor developments in science and technology in fields such as feed conversion, automatic (machine) chicken catching, and chicken behaviour.
 
While he believes the system will continue “business as usual” in the short term he indicated some concern with the current round of trade negotiations. “We need to get everybody onside to get a deal that’s best for all of agriculture. We are hurting ourselves with different sets of marching orders.”
 
When asked about the future, Terry responded, “consumption is stable in Canada but I can see people are being very health conscious – chicken will always gain from that,” he said.
 
Family farms like that of the Knippels in Saskatchewan form the backbone of Canada’s chicken industry.

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