Producers are also encouraged to use money in their AgriInvest accounts as a way to ease government perceptions
Alberta pork producers have asked the provincial government to develop an advance producer payment plan of $35 per hog to keep them going during the current period of low prices and diminishing markets due to processing plant uncertainty.
Alberta Pork chair Brent Moen said it now costs more money to produce a pig than farmers receive for selling one. As processing plants slow their production due to worker shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic, market-ready pigs are accumulating in the supply chain.
“Pig supply backlogs and record low margins are seriously threatening the ability of our industry to continue operating sustainably while providing food for Canadians and the world,” Moen told those on an April 23 conference call.
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“We just can’t shut things down. It’s impossible to stop production. We’ve got six months of supply growing on our farms every day.”
The request to the province would cost more than $40 million if provided from May to October. Moen said it would cover the estimated difference between projected gross price of an estimated $150 per head and the anticipated cost of production, which is $185 per head.
The Canadian Pork Council, to which Alberta Pork and other provincial hog groups belong, last week asked the federal government for $20 per pig to address the cash flow crisis affecting the entire industry.
The CPC also asked the federal government to increase the AgriStability trigger to 85 percent and for an immediate deposit into AgriInvest of five percent of a producer’s 2018 allowable net sales to a maximum of $100,000 per producer.
Moen encouraged pork producers to trigger any money they now have in their AgriInvest accounts because, based on discussions, bureaucrats seem to believe they have funds at their disposal that are not being used.
“The first thing that comes up is that hog farmers have got an abundance of money, in their mind an average of $40,000 per producer in the account and it’s supposed to be there for emergency,” said Moen.
“They don’t seem to understand that $40,000 won’t even cover our week’s feed bill, but nonetheless we need to remove that obstacle from their challenge.”
Alberta Pork executive director Darcy Fitzgerald said Alberta’s pork processors have continued to operate and have increased worker protection measures in their plants.
However, he asked producers to update their emergency plans in case of plant closure.
Timing of response to either or both of the CPC and Alberta Pork requests is unknown, but Moen said the need is urgent.
“We need the money today,” he said.
“Our producers are drowning in a sea of red ink, and we have our federal and provincial bureaucrats debating over what colour of life jacket they should throw to us.”
