- 1991
- BCARAi approaches the BC Egg Marketing Board (BCEMB) for help with developing organic standards for egg producers and the Egg Marketing Board declines
- 1994
- Rabbit River Farms starts producing organic eggs
- In Season Farms starts its organic feed mill
- 1996
- Olera Farms starts producing organic eggs
- 1998
- BCEMB issues a seizure notice on Rabbit River Farms
- Organic Friends of the Future is formed
- 60 letters/day are sent to the Minister of Agriculture protesting the seizure
- other BC Marketing Boards take initiative against organic mushroom and turkey producers
- Ministry of Agriculture then requests a meeting with organic producers and Marketing boards
- 1999
- Negotiations with Marketing Boards start at the request of the government, the principle being that because the Egg Marketing Board does not have organic eggs, what right do they have to go after Rabbit River Farm?
- COABCi strikes a committee and negotiates with all the marketing boards (vegetable, dairy, chicken, turkey and egg). Paddy Doherty and Fred Reid head up the committee.
- negotiations fail with chicken and egg boards and organic farmers were forced into mediation with the Marketing Boards
- organic mushroom producers were granted a two year moratorium by the Mushroom Marketing Board
- 2000
- by this time, Olera Farms was marketing into IGA’s, Supervalu’s and other mainstream retail outlets
- NDP government funded the mediation between Egg Marketing Board and organic producers with the plan that if no conclusion was reached an arbitrated decision would be made
- during mediation discussions, the certified organic egg producers disclosed that there were 7000 organic egg birds in production so the MB would know what % of production organic eggs comprised
- the mediation failed and Robin Younger proposed two solutions both granting autonomy to the organic egg producers with a gradual phase-in to the Marketing Board system as organic production grew
- the organic sector, represented by COABC, and the Egg Marketing Board both put in their proposal, with organic producers wanting outright exemption from the Marketing Boards and MB’s declaring that there is no distinction between organic and conventional (an egg is an egg).
- the government then offered two proposals, both offering a reasonable amount of autonomy to organic egg producers and exemption from Marketing Boards, to a percentage of the total industry.
- Marketing Boards rejected all these proposals and went out of province to find and certify 7000 organic laying birds (no transition period)
- Marketing Boards then sent out a press release that organic eggs were flooding the market and blamed Olera Farms. By this time BC’s organic egg producers had 23000 laying hens producing eggs outside the Marketing Board
- 2001
- COABC asks the Min. of Agr. to decide which proposal to follow because the Min of Agr. does have power (through an order in council) to rule over Marketing Boards
- with no decision forthcoming, COABC proposes that organic egg producers have their own marketing board
- Ag Minister (Ed Conroy) refused this
- Egg Marketing Board then announces control over the organic egg industry through Temporary Restricted License Quota (TRLQ)
- In November, a public petition with 7000 signatures saying organic egg producers should be independent of the Marketing Boards was presented to the Liberal Government at Bluewater Café
- The Liberal Government never acknowledged receiving this petition
- 2002
- due to public outcry, 3-4 days of mediation were set up, with lawyers present, to try and resolve the issues. Many COABC certified producers attended.
- the day after mediation, the Egg Marketing Board fines Olera Farms $73,000 in back levies for selling eggs outside their system. Olera is fined as an egg grader so this increases their liability to all the eggs from other farms shipped through their grading station.
- Olera launches an appeal of this fine to the BC Marketing Boards (Superboard) focusing on the facts that they should be exempt from these levies and that the fine shouldn’t be set arbitrarily back to 1999, while organic producers were in negotiation with the Marketing Boards.
- a class action suit was launched on behalf of all COABC egg producers against the MB with a court date of Feb. 2005 under the premise that the MB acted in bad faith (misfeasance of public office)
- Meanwhile, the Chicken MB sought an injunction against Thomas Reid Farms and Madame Justice Smith ruled that "a chicken is a chicken"
- BC Marketing Board rules against Olera farm’s appeal
- Olera appeals BC Marketing Board’s decision
- Thomas Reid Farm appeals its decision
- 2003
- BC Egg Marketing Board seeks an injunction to require Olera Farms to join the Marketing Board
- BC Egg Marketing Board wins their injunction
- Olera Farm is forced into the Marketing Board and subject to all fines, at this point at least $93,000
- Olera is forced out of business as of Nov. 1/03 and is responsible to collect levies from all other organic egg producers who used their grading station
