Independently managed and first-of-its-kind, the Ontario Chicken Innovation and Growth Program has millions of kilograms of chicken available to accelerate consumer-facing innovations using Ontario chicken.

It’s no secret that Ontario’s chicken industry has a history of innovation. Whether its offering greater access to locally grown chicken to address the growing need for locally grown food to introducing packaging and processing innovations to meet demand for more convenient meal options, our industry has adapted to the changing needs of consumers.

The results speak for themselves: Chicken is the most popular meat protein in Canada with 84% of Canadians purchasing fresh chicken on a regular basis according to a recent study by Chicken Farmers of Canada.

But, it is not enough. Consumer crave new products and more can be done to meet their needs.

Chicken Farmers of Ontario’s answer: Make a significant supply of chicken available to companies to accelerate consumer product innovation.

It’s a new approach to bring consumer chicken products to market.

The Program recognizes top consumer-facing innovations in the chicken industry, directing an additional supply of chicken to enable the innovation and accelerate growth. In 2019, millions of kilograms of chicken are available.

All companies involved in the processing, marketing and sale of chicken products are eligible to enter including all primary and further processors, retailers, and foodservice and restaurant companies. If you are not a primary processor, you must have a primary processor as a co-applicant.

Your innovation must be designed for consumers and be the first-of-its-kind in Canada. You must use chicken grown and fully processed in Ontario.

In addition, the innovation must have some track record so that you can include at least six months of sales data in your application as well as a description of the innovation, forecasted sales data, market research and a marketing plan.

All eligible applications are evaluated by an independent Advisory Committee of experts. The Advisory Committee considers qualitative and quantitative factors using a scoring system as follows:

Applications are scored on their own merits so there is the opportunity for multiple innovations to be recognized.

The Advisory Committee assesses each application and recommends the highest scoring applicants to the Chicken Farmers of Ontario Board of Directors for final approval. Applications must score at least 45 of 60 points in the historical sales data category and at least 70 points overall to be recommended.

Full details are available in the Program Policy.