AMT395-Farmer Jailed For Selling Eggs "Arrested Like A Criminal" by Supply Chain "Cartel" | As a Man Thinketh

Jailed for Fighting the Egg Cartel?















Inside the Alberta Farmer Arrest That’s Shaking Canada’s Supply Management System


In April 2025, five RCMP cruisers descended on Sundial Poultry, a small farm in southern Alberta, and arrested 61-year-old farmer Henk Van Essen. The alleged crime? Selling eggs. Or so the early social media reports claimed.


In truth, Van Essen’s arrest was not about illegal egg sales—but it has sparked a national debate about Canada’s supply management system and the treatment of small farmers.


For years, Van Essen had challenged the Egg Farmers of Alberta (EFA) over production quotas. Under Canada’s system, farmers must own quota to operate more than 300 hens. However, Van Essen was reportedly operating within the limit. His arrest, it turns out, had nothing to do with overproduction.


“The recent arrest was not related to egg production or quota violations. It was 100 percent related to his repeated dismissal of court orders and not appearing in court,” said EFA spokesperson David Webb. Court documents confirm that Van Essen had been ordered to comply with inspection and record-keeping requirements during a civil dispute but repeatedly failed to show up to scheduled hearings. A civil warrant was issued for contempt of court.


The RCMP acted on the warrant and arrested him at his farm. He spent two days in jail before agreeing to conditions for his release—including submitting to farm inspections and turning over four years of sales records.


But the heavy-handed nature of the arrest triggered outrage across rural Canada. Civil contempt cases rarely lead to a police raid involving five cruisers. Critics say the dramatic arrest was meant to intimidate not just Van Essen, but anyone questioning the quota system.


Maxime Bernier, leader of the People’s Party of Canada, was blunt: “It is a shame that a 61-year-old man has been arrested like a criminal… He is just an entrepreneur trying to serve his community.” Bernier has long criticized supply management as an economic cartel, calling the police action “something you’d expect in a communist country.”


The controversy deepened when Van Essen revealed that a court may soon order him to cull up to 1,000 of his hens—potentially devastating his livelihood. According to the Western Standard, the court authorized EFA inspectors to “count the chickens and dispose of any over 300.”


To farmer advocates, this case exposes the harsh realities of a system designed to limit production and protect large, quota-holding operators. While supply management was originally intended to stabilize prices and protect Canadian farmers, its enforcement mechanisms have increasingly drawn criticism as out-of-touch, bureaucratic, and even oppressive.


For many, the key questions now are: who does the system really serve—and what happens when farmers try to challenge it?

Categories: Lifestyle

Starring: Charlie and Shuana Rankin