Turkey Farmers of Nova Scotia Regulations
made under Section 9 of the
Natural Products Act
R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 308
O.I.C. 92-1202 (effective December 8, 1992), N.S. Reg. 266/1992
amended to N.S. Reg. 216/2018 (effective January 1, 2019)
Table of Contents
Please note: this table of contents is provided for convenience of reference and does not form part of the regulations.
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Definition regulation
1 In these regulations
(a) “Act” means Chapter 308 of the Revised Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1989, the
“Natural Products Act”;
(b) “allottee” means a person to whom the Board has, in respect of registered
premises, fixed and allotted a quota or quotas;
(c) “base quota” means that quota which has been allotted to a producer and is
registered at the offices of the Board as that producer’s base quota;
(d) “bird unit” means 4.76 kilograms of live weight turkey;
(e) “Board” means the Turkey Farmers of Nova Scotia;
(f) “broiler weight” class birds means any one of a flock of any variety of
turkey ordinarily marketed by a producer at a live flock weight averaging up
to 6.17 kilograms per bird;
(g) “control period” means the twelve month period covered by the Promotion
Agreement of the Canadian Turkey Marketing Agency;
(h) “distribution” includes marketing, advertising, buying, selling, storing,
packing, transporting, shipping, shipping for sale or storage, and offering for
sale and includes any such activity by a peddler, a hawker and a trader, but
excludes any such activity by a producer who transports turkey from the
place of production to the place of slaughter;
(i) “facilities” means the building or buildings and land appurtenant thereto,
fixtures and equipment belonging to or operated by a producer that are used
for the housing and production of turkeys;
(j) “flock” means any group of turkeys housed in a producer’s facilities which
are being raised by the producer for marketing at the same live weight or
approximately the same live weight and at the same time or approximately
the same time;
(ja) “free range turkey” means any one of a flock of any variety of turkey which
(i) is raised on a feed ration consisting solely of grains, vegetable
products and necessary vitamins and minerals and containing no
traces of rendered meat products or meat by-products, fish meal or
fish by-products, antibiotics or other medication of any kind,
including growth promoters,
(ii) has regular access to fresh air, sun, soil and green forage,
(iii) has been processed by a registered inspected processor.
(k) “hatchery” means a person supplying poults for the production of turkeys
within the Province of Nova Scotia;
(l) “hen weight” class birds means any one of a flock of any variety of turkey
ordinarily marketed by a producer at a live flock weight averaging 6.17
kilograms up to and including 9.76 kilograms per bird;
(m) “marketing” includes advertising, buying, selling, storing, packing,
transporting, shipping, shipping for sale or storage, and offering for sale, and
includes sale by peddlers, hawkers and traders;
(n) “minimum floor space” means the living space that is required by a living
bird during a production cycle but does not include floor space not normally
made available for use for turkey production such as basements, attics,
furnace rooms, halls, stairways;
(o) “new producer” means a person to whom the Board has allocated quota
from the New Turkey Producer Quota Bank or other quota not previously
held by a producer;
(p) “New Turkey Producer Quota Bank” means the quota account established
pursuant to Regulation 8;
(q) “person” includes any board, association, corporation, firm or partnership;
(r) “Plan” means the Nova Scotia Turkey Marketing Plan;
(s) “poult” means a turkey fifteen days of age or less;
(t) “process” or “processing” means altering the nature, size quality, or
condition of turkey by mechanical means or otherwise and includes
slaughtering;
(u) “processor” means a person operating a plant for the processing, distribution
or selling of turkeys;
(v) “producer” means any person engaged in the production of turkeys in the
Province of Nova Scotia for the purpose of sale or distribution;
(w) “production” means production for commercial purposes;
(x) “production cycle” means a marketing period determined from time to time
by the Board;
(y) “quota” means the bird units issued to a producer by the Board for the
purpose of establishing that a fair and measurable distribution of available
Provincial production has been made by the Board;
(z) “quota in excess of base” means that quota that is available for production
that is in excess of 100% of the existing base quota;
(aa) “registered processor” means a processor who is registered and licensed
with the Board;
(bb) “registered producer” means a producer who is registered for actual
production with the Board;
(cc) “tom weight” class birds means any one of a flock of any variety of turkey
ordinarily marketed by a producer at a live flock weight averaging over 9.76
kilograms per bird; and
(dd) “turkey” means any class or variety of turkey of any age, whether live, fresh
or frozen and includes any part or parts thereof.
Allocation of production quota for turkeys
2 (1) (a) Subject to these regulations, the Board may allot quota for the production of
turkeys within the Province of Nova Scotia to producers who own land and
have buildings which they allocate to the production of turkeys.
(b) The Board may, in its discretion
(i) allot quota to a producer who is leasing land and buildings for the
purpose of using them for the production of turkeys, but the quota
may be withdrawn by the Board if the producer does not, within
three (3) years from the date of allotment, acquire full ownership of
the land and buildings, or
(ii) allot quota to a producer who neither owns nor leases land and
buildings for the purpose of using them for the production of turkeys,
provided the producer obtains such facilities within six months of
allotment and thereafter qualifies in accordance with subclause (i) of
clause (b), or
(iii) allot quota in accordance with Regulation[Section] 8.
(2) Quota may only be held by or allotted to bona fide producers who are not directly
or indirectly, in the opinion of the Board, involved in the processing, hatchery, feed
manufacturing or distribution sectors of the poultry industry.
(3) (a) The maximum quota that can be held or otherwise controlled by any one
turkey producer shall be limited to 30,000 bird units per production cycle
and in calculating bird units, consideration shall be given to all bird types,
classes, weights and grades of live turkey.
(b) The maximum allowable combined live weight that can be produced by a
single producer per year shall be 428,400 kilograms including any over
production penalties.
(c) A processor who is also a producer shall be limited to a maximum of
30,000 bird units per production cycle or 428,400 kilograms per production
year.
(4) The maximum allowable quota as expressed in bird units (30,000 per production
cycle) or in annual live kilograms (428,400 live kilograms) may be increased by
the Board providing that
(a) all other allottees and producers registered with the Board for production
pursuant to Regulations[Sections] 13 and 14 have received consideration by
the Board for quota and production; and
(b) all other registered producers who have less than the maximum allowable
quota have received consideration by the Board for additional quota and
production.
(5) (a) Despite any provision of these regulations to the contrary, no quota or
licensed production shall be allotted to a producer or applicant unless that
producer or applicant has satisfied the Board that the proposed facilities
comply with the requirements for minimum floor space required to
adequately house the total number of bird units per flock cycle permitted by
the quota applied for.
(b) Minimum floor space required in the case of
(i) broiler weight class birds is .13935 square meter[metre] per bird,
(ii) hen weight class birds is .2323 square meter[metre] per bird, and
(iii) tom weight class birds is .3716 square meter[metre] per bird.
Quota transfers
3 (1) (a) Any producer wishing to transfer quota shall make written application
therefor to the Board setting out the full particulars of the proposed transfer
and the transferee shall join in the application.
(b) All quota transfers shall be subject to the discretion of the Board.
(c) No transfer of quota shall be approved by the Board unless it is shown to
the satisfaction of the Board by the applicant for transfer
(i) that the land and buildings used to produce that quota are being sold
to the intended transferee coincident with the proposed transfer, or
(ii) that the land and buildings used to produce that quota are not
adequate or suitable for the continued production of turkeys.
(d) No transfer of quota shall be approved by the Board if it is deemed by the
Board that the transferee is or has been within the previous five years of the
date of the application for transfer of quota
(i) a spouse of the producer,
(ii) a partner of the producer,
(iii) a partnership in which the producer is a partner,
(iv) a corporation in which the producer owns shares or any other interest,
(v) where the producer is a corporation, an owner of shares or any other
interest,
(vi) a trustee for the producer, except for a trustee appointed pursuant to
the Bankruptcy Act (Canada) or a trustee appointed pursuant to the
Probate Act (Nova Scotia).
(2) Upon an application for transfer of a quota by a producer and a transferee, or at
such time or times that the Board may require, the transferee shall deliver to the
Board, a sworn affidavit which shall include the following information:
(a) the actual ownership of land and buildings related to the production facility,
and of any lease agreements in respect thereof, upon and in which
production relating to the quota is intended to take place;
(b) the names of all owners, co-owners, shareholders, partners, and interested
parties involved in that facility together with a list of the shareholders in any
corporation, excluding publicly traded corporations, involved or intended to
be involved directly or indirectly, immediately prior to and following an
approved transfer;
(c) where the transferee is a body corporate excluding publicly traded
corporations, a list of all shareholders of that body corporate who are
directly involved in processing, hatchery, or feed manufacturing or
distribution in the poultry industry, and the percentage of interest of each
shareholder thereof;
(d) all information relating to the availability of buildings and facility for the
production of the quota; and
(e) such other information as the Board may direct.
(3) If representations of the producer or the transferee to the Board in the application
for transfer of a quota allotment are shown to be incorrect, misleading, or false, or
where the parties to the transfer have violated these regulations, or where, in the
opinion of the Board, the intent of these regulations has been circumvented, the
Board may revoke the transfer to the transferee and cancel the quota allotment and
if the quota allotment is so cancelled by the Board, it shall form a part of the
unallocated quota of the Board.
(4) No application for transfer of a quota allotment shall be considered by the Board
unless the application is accompanied by a completed Quota Transfer Application
Form in the form approved by the Board.
(5) Notwithstanding any other provision in these regulations, no transfer shall be
approved unless the applicant producer (transferor) has held the quota allotment for
at least five years prior to the application for transfer.
(6) No application to transfer less than 5,000 bird units per production cycle shall be
considered by the Board unless the quota to be transferred is the transferor’s entire
quota.
(7) Any producer who is the transferor of quota shall not be eligible for any increase in
quota or allotment of quota in excess of base quota.
Retention of quota
4 (1) The Board may cancel the quota allocated to any producer, subject to subsection
(2), where, in the opinion of the Board
(a) the producer fails to produce and market turkeys in a volume consistent
with the quota allocated to the producer or marketing licences issued to the
producer;
(b) the producer fails to submit to the Board the proper reports with respect to
the producer’s production or marketings, as provided for in the Plan or these
regulations;
(c) a producer remains out of production for up to two consecutive production
cycles; or
(d) a producer violates any provision of the Plan or any regulations of the
Board.
(2) A producer may discontinue production for a specified marketing period where the
producer has received the written approval of the Board to so discontinue.
Allotted quota classification by bird type category
5 Allotted quota and marketing licences issued for different classes of turkeys, as defined
in these regulations, shall not be interchangeable and inter-class transfers of allotted
quota or marketing licences shall not be permitted.
Quota value
6 To facilitate the entry of new producers into the turkey industry, the Board declares that
all allotted quotas and licences issued by the Board shall have no monetary value or
exchange value whatsoever.
Allotted quota for public research
7 Public research institutions located and operated in Nova Scotia by the federal
government, Provincial government or other public body shall be a special case under
these regulations and shall apply to the Board, in writing, to obtain from the Board a
licence for each crop of turkeys and shall pay to the Board upon completion of the
slaughter of the crop of turkey the same licence fees as are required of producers.
Allotment of quota in excess of base quota
8 (1) Allotment of quota in excess of base quota may be allotted by the Board in
accordance with the following criteria:
(a) existing quota holders shall be given first consideration in the allotment of
any quota available in excess of base quota, subject however, to
Regulations[Sections] 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 and 14, and where the existing producer
has, in the opinion of the Board, adequate and sufficient registered
production capacity required to produce the additional quota;
(b) where allotment of quota in excess of base quota has been deemed by the
Board to be necessary or advisable, a minimum of 5% of the available
excess quota shall be set aside and placed by the Board into a New Turkey
Producer Quota Bank account for allotment from time to time in the
discretion of the Board to new producers;
(c) the Board may, at such time it considers appropriate to avoid removing
quota from actual production, issue temporary no quota rights special
licences to producers in accordance with the amount of production available
in the New Turkey Producer Quota Bank. A “no quota rights” special
licence issued to a producer will terminate without notice to the producer at
the end of the control period for which the no quota rights licence was
issued,
(i) first to existing producers who have not reached their maximum
quota limit as defined in subsections (3) and (4) of
Regulation[Section] 2, and then
(ii) to other existing producers who have quota;
(d) the New Turkey Producer Quota Bank bird units held by the Board may be
allotted at any time to a new producer. The total bird units held by the
Board in this account may not exceed the equivalent of 15,000 bird units,
and any bird units held in the New Turkey Producer Quota Bank must be
allocated to a new producer within a period not to exceed 12 months; and
(e) every new producer shall be selected from the New Grower Waiting List
established by the Board on October 21, 1986, and
(i) no new producer shall be eligible for any additional allocation or
licence of any kind for a period of three years, and future eligibility to
receive additional allotment or licence or licence transfer is at the
sole discretion of the Board, and
(ii) every new producer is subject to classification.
Marketing licences
9 (1) No producer shall market turkeys in Nova Scotia or elsewhere without a valid
marketing licence issued by the Board.
(2) Marketing licences may, in whole or in part, be transferred subject to the approval
of the Board, provided the Board has received, prior to the transfer, a written
application upon its Licence Transfer Application Form in the form approved by
the Board.
(3) Licence transfer applications must be submitted and approved by the Board prior
to the on-farm placement of poults intended for marketing under that licence.
(4) Marketing licences may be issued by the Board for each marketing period as
defined by the Board, in any control period, to each holder of allocated quota, or
others who qualify under these regulations and who shall be marketing turkeys
within the marketing period.
Exemptions from application of regulations
10 These regulations shall not apply to any producer who markets less than 25 turkeys in
any control period.
Producer marketing levy
11 (1) (a) All producers marketing turkeys within the Province of Nova Scotia shall
pay a levy to the Board.
(b) All levies collected by a processor on behalf of a producer shall be
submitted by the processor to the Board not later than ten days following the
month in which the levies were deducted from payments due to the
producer and the effective date of a marketing levy shall be that date upon
which turkeys are delivered by a producer for slaughter.
(c) In the event that a processor fails to deduct a levy on behalf of a producer
the levy shall be due and payable by that specific producer to the Board.
(d) In the event that a processor fails to remit a levy collected on behalf of a
producer then the responsibility of the payment and recovery of that levy
shall revert back to the producer for payment to the Board.
(2) Processors must register and be licensed by the Board and each processor shall
deduct all levies determined by the Board before making any financial settlement
with any producer marketing turkeys through that processor.
(3) (a) A producer marketing levy is hereby payable to the Board by the producer
on all turkeys marketed by the producer to a processor within the Province
of Nova Scotia at the rate of $0.0565 per live kilogram of turkey
slaughtered and for which payment is due to the producer.
(b) With respect to turkeys which the producer does not market through a
processor or processing plant, the marketing levy payable to the Board shall
be either,
(i) three cents per live kilogram, or
(ii) in accordance with the following scale:
Live Weight in Kilograms
|
Marketing Levy Payable
|
0.0 to 6.17
|
18¢ per live bird
|
6.17 to 9.76
|
23¢ per live bird
|
9.76 to 12.05
|
30¢ per live bird
|
12.05 and over
|
36¢ per live bird
|
(iii) the levy shall be paid directly by the producer to the Board within ten
days after the completion of the marketing of the birds.
(4) Provided always that levies made to the producers are subject to change by the
Board at any time at the Board’s discretion, and upon written notification by the
Board of that change to the producer, the producer shall remit the levies at the new
rates either through the processor or directly to the Board.
Over production penalties
12 (1) Every producer that produces quantities in excess of those for which the producer
is licensed, or for which the producer has been allotted quota, shall pay to the
Board an over production penalty of up to 22 cents per kilogram live weight which
exceeds the weight for which the producer has been licensed or allotted quota.
(2) A producer shall be considered to have exceeded the producer’s allotted quota or
licence when the producer’s total production and marketings for all the marketing
periods ending at the end of the control period exceed the total licence quantities
for that control period.
(3) Any producer who produces in excess of the producer’s allocated quota or licence
may, at the discretion of the Board, be subject to reduction of quota by an amount
equal to the excess production, and the reduction shall be applied to the producer
in the control period immediately following the control period in which the over
production took place.
(4) Failure by a producer to pay over production penalties to the Board after written
notice to do so shall constitute cause for cancellation by the Board, in its discretion,
of any existing quotas held by that producer.
Registration of production facilities
13 (1) Every producer in the Province of Nova Scotia shall register with the Board all of
that producer’s existing facilities to be used for the production of turkeys by filing
with the Board a completed written Registration of Producer Facilities in the form
approved by the Board.
(2) Notwithstanding the foregoing, the fact of registration of such facilities with the
Board does not in itself entitle the registrant the right to produce turkeys and the
registration form herein established is to assist the Board in its deliberations as to
whether it shall allot to such registered producer any quota that becomes available
for allotment and in any event such consideration shall be subject to
Regulations[Sections] 2, 5, 8, and 14.
(3) Any producer who knowingly provides false information to the Board pertaining to
the ownership of, or to the size or use of any production facility in which the
producer is producing or is intending to produce turkeys, shall, at the option of the
Board, render the producer liable for cancellation of any allotted quota held by that
producer.
Registration for quota
14 (1) Each person making application for quota shall file with the Board a completed
written Application for Turkey Quota in the form approved by the Board.
(2) Any application for quota submitted to the Board shall be considered by the Board
in its determinations as to whether quota shall be allotted to the applicant and, in
any event, the Board shall give due consideration in its deliberations to
Regulations[Sections] 2, 3, 5, 8, and 13.
Registered processors’ licences
15 (1) Each processor engaged in the slaughter or marketing of turkeys shall be registered
as a processor with the Board.
(2) (a) No person shall commence or carry on the business of processing turkeys
except as previously authorized by licence issued by the Board.
(b) No processing licence shall be issued by the Board in the absence of a
written application by the proposed processor being submitted to the Board.
(3) (a) All licences issued by the Board to a processor shall expire on the 31st day
of December following the issuance of the licence.
(b) No fee shall be chargeable to a person making application for or being
granted a processor’s licence.
(4) (a) The Board may refuse to grant a licence to an applicant which, in the
opinion of the Board, is not qualified by experience, financial responsibility,
or available facility and equipment to properly engage in the processing
business.
(b) The Council may suspend or revoke or refuse to renew a licence to a
processor for failure to observe, perform, or carry out the provisions of the
Natural Products Act, these regulations, the Plan, or any order or direction
of the Natural Products Marketing Council of Nova Scotia, or of the Board.
Producer Settlement Reports
16 (1) Each processor shall file with the Board a Producer Settlement Report which shall
include details of all purchases and sales transactions between the processor and
each of the producers with whom the processor deals in any control period and the
Producer Settlement Report shall be filed with the Board within ten days of the
completion of each transaction.
(2) A producer who operates on a cash basis shall forward to the Board a Producer
Settlement Report within ten days of the completion of the marketing of each flock
of turkeys.
Hatchery information
17 (1) (a) All hatcheries supplying turkey poults to producers shall submit to the
Board on or before the 10th day of each and every month a registration
summary setting out the number of poults placed with each producer
dealing with that hatchery during the previous calendar month.
(b) All hatcheries supplying poults to producers shall report the total number of
poults shipped to each individual producer including any and all poults for
which the producer has not been invoiced by the hatchery at the time of
reporting.
(2) Any person who produces, purchases, receives, sells, grows, or deals with poults,
the existence of which has not been reported to the Board shall be liable to such
penalties as have been established under the Natural Products Act of Nova Scotia,
the Plan or the regulations of the Board.
(3) Poults placed with or invoiced to a producer shall not be grown, transferred or
credited to any other producer or person without the prior written permission of the
Board.
Transfer of quota by processors who are also producers
18 (1) Despite the provisions of any other regulation[Section], this regulation[Section]
applies solely to processors who are also producers who wish to transfer base quota
and for the purpose of this regulation, processors who are also producers are
defined as A.C.A. Co-operative Limited and Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and include
any subsequent business engaged in the industry of processing turkey for the
consumer market.
(2) Processors who are also producers who wish to transfer all or part of their base
quota may apply to the Board in writing in such form as the Board may prescribe
from time to time.
(3) Upon receipt of an application as prescribed in subsection (2), the Board shall
consider the application and if the Board requires further information, the Board
may require the applicant or proposed transferee of the base quota to appear before
the Board and make representations to the Board concerning the proposed transfer
of base quota.
(4) After consideration of the application, the Board may approve, in whole or in part,
or disapprove of the application as the Board considers appropriate having regard
to all the circumstances of the application, and without restricting the generality of
the foregoing, the Board shall, in considering the application, have regard to the
following factors:
(a) the impact of the proposed transfer on the overall marketing scheme and
strategy of the Board at the time of the application;
(b) the position of the proposed transferees of the base quota on the Board’s
New Grower Waiting List at the time of the application;
(c) the relationship, if any, between the applicant and the proposed transferees
of the base quota at the time of the application;
(d) whether the proposed transferees of the base quota are existing producers
and the impact the proposed transfer will have on the quota held by the
existing producers at the time of the application;
(e) whether the proposed transfer of base quota is with or without facilities; and
(f) any other factor that the Board deems appropriate.
The following regulations are not yet in force and are
not included in the current consolidation: