Benoît Fontaine
Hailing from Stanbridge Station, Quebec, Benoît Fontaine, Chair of Chicken Farmers of Canada, first joined the Board of Directors in 2013 as an alternate and became the Quebec Director in 2014. He farms in the Lac Champlain area and raises chickens and turkeys. A former high school Canadian history teacher and principal, and 2nd generation chicken farmer, Benoît has also been heavily involved with the Éleveurs de volailles du Quebec since 1999. Benoît became Chair in 2016.
Nick de Graaf
Nick de Graaf, 1st Vice-Chair, is a third-generation poultry farmer in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia operating the farm founded by his Dutch grandfather in the early 1960’s. Today the farm produces both chickens and turkeys. Nick is also part of Innovative Poultry Group (IPG) which farms broiler breeders and owns Maritime Chicks, a new, state-of-the-art hatchery employing the HatchCare system. In addition to poultry, Nick grows more than 2,000 acres of wheat, corn, and soybeans. He is self-sufficient in the production of corn and soybeans for his on-farm feed mill where he processes poultry feeds for his own flocks. Nick is in his 9th year as a Director with Chicken Farmers of Nova Scotia. He has held several roles with Chicken Farmers of Canada, including as Chair of the Production Committee and the representative to the National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC). Nick and his wife, Trudy, have three children and three grandchildren.
Tim Klompmaker
Tim Klompmaker, 2nd Vice-Chair, lives in Norwood, Ontario and was elected to the Chicken Farmers of Canada Board in 2017. Tim started farming in 1984 along with his wife Annette and his three sons. He is a third-generation chicken farmer with the fourth generation already in place and running chicken farms of their own. Tim served as a District Committee Representative for Chicken Farmers of Ontario before being elected to the Ontario Board in 2010. He previously served as Alternate Representative for Ontario from 2012-2013, and has participated on the Production Committee, the
Derek Janzen
Derek Janzen, the Executive Member, and his wife Rhonda have farmed in the Fraser Valley since 1998. They currently raise chickens and manage commercial laying hens. Prior to farming, Derek worked for B.C.’s largest poultry processor for nearly nine years. He worked his way up from driving delivery truck to sales and marketing where he took the position of Major Accounts Manager. Derek’s experience in the processing industry has served him well with his board involvement. Derek has held various positions on a variety of other boards too, including Chair of the B.C. Egg Producers Association and he was appointed by the Minister of Agriculture as a member of the Farm Industry Review Board, B.C.’s supervisory board.