With the recent ruling by the World Trade Organization declaring elements of the U.S. Country Of Origin Labelling program to be unfair, Canadian livestock producers feel that the first steps have been made in restoring exports lost when the program began. While Canadian producers applaud the move, there is an underlying skepticism that this decision… Read More
Is the Canadian livestock industry still competitive? We hear this discussion at every conference and coffee shop we participate in. Chances are that we are too hard on ourselves as the industry has survived (relative term) with the drastically higher dollar and increased global competitiveness from South America and the United States. The more negative… Read More
Alberta Pork is taking unprecedented steps to help its producers deal with the economic hardships faced over the past years. Two million dollars collected by the organization will be refunded back to producers. The Organization made the move after it was unable to find a partner with which to leverage its funds to create programs… Read More
Over the past few years U.S. DDGs have worked their way more and more into Western Canadian livestock rations. The energy value is good, the starch content is less, helps to prevent acidosis in cattle, improved feed conversions and the quality and yield grades of carcasses remain unaffected when switching from traditional rations. Another big… Read More
Hog farmers across the country have had it bad for a while. Market crashes, disease and deteriorating consumer confidence have been major issues for pork producers for quite some time. Running a hog farm is not easy or glamorous. They require an incredible amount of hands on management from farrow to finish. Hogs are hard… Read More
Managing risk is a major part of running any farm or livestock operation. Alberta recently tried to aid it’s provincial livestock producers by launching the Cattle Price Insurance Program (CPIP). Recently Ontario Provincial Ag-Critic, Mr. Ernie Hardeman, MPP, questioned why the Ontario government was stalling in implementing a similar program to ensure Ontario producer competitiveness…. Read More
I have never owned a hog or participated in the business at all but from the outside it does appear to be a very tough financial business. I have had several chats with producers that have been in the business for a long time and the concerns are real for the long term sustainability of… Read More
After last weeks two posts on the Canada / EU free trade agreement I received several emails from people saying that they believe that this deal will provide limited benefit to the farmer or livestock producer in Canada. The NFU has been very vocal but I find it hard to take much that they say… Read More
Canada and Mexico have taken the issue of country of origin labelling (COOL) to the World Trade Organization (WTO). We are basically one year into the implementation of COOL and the financial impact is severe. The impact on the Canada and Mexico livestock markets has been very hurtful. The interesting thing that I found at… Read More
Based on the economic turmoil that the hog industry has been in over recent years, it is no surprise that barns have been de-populated and the industry has retrenched. One of the major events in recent months has been Big Sky Farms entering creditor protection. Big Sky is the largest hog operation in Saskatchewan and to say this is a… Read More
When an industry struggles financially, it becomes necessary to re-evaluate how business is done. The beef industry has struggled since the discovery of BSE in 2003 and the pork industry has felt the financial pain from the H1N1 pandemic. One solution being circulated in the coffee shops across the country is to make either of… Read More
I was fortunate earlier this week to meet with the President & CEO of the Alberta Livestock Meat Agency, Gordon Cove. My interview is broken into two parts and I hope that you find it interesting and look upon it objectively. No matter where your meat politics reside you have to admit that the Alberta… Read More
This was originally written by Lillian Schaer on her blog “Food and Farming Canada“ This post is a continuation from yesterday€™s H1N1 topic that explored Alberta Pork€™s experiences at the centre of the H1N1 media storm earlier this year. The information is based on a presentation I attended by Lee Funke of Torque Communications at… Read More
There was a time when agriculture and food were sacred topics to the public. People were either on the farm or one generation removed which instilled a connection to the source of the food that we eat. In the past five years that has definitely changed as many food activists have begun attacking the large… Read More
The following article was originally from SiemensSays.com. I think it is a very insightful analysis into the recent announcements in the pork industry. Loan guarantees will help some producers. But, what is the criteria for a viable hog operation? The Canadian industry is currently losing $30 million a week. The situation is deteriorating daily. The… Read More