Manitoba’s agriculture minister says he understands and values the hog industry’s vital contribution to the province.
However, in a May 1 speech to the Manitoba Farm Writers and Broadcasters Association, Ron Kostyshyn made no promises of concrete help to the beleaguered industry, which is caught in a financial crisis that is eliminating most of the remaining independent hog producers.
“We need to develop, rather than a three, four, six month, 10 month plan down the road as far as financial stability of funding,” Kostyshyn said.
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“We need to get involvement from the producer to the retail component, have those individuals sit around the table and say, ‘we need to develop some form of a stabilization fund from the entire food chain.’ ”
Manitoba Agriculture recently turned down a plan developed by the Manitoba Pork Council to create a stabilization program that would be entirely farmer funded but paid out through a line of credit backed by the provincial government.
The government said positive things about the idea of the program, but insisted that the federal government and packing companies also take part.
Kostyshyn said the government has not refused to take part in a larger program.
“We did not shut the door with the Manitoba Pork Council,” he said.
“What we said was that the plan that was presented, the proposal that was presented, was not somewhat applicable to what we talk about in a business plan,” he said.
“My staff is available. Let’s get back to a roundtable discussion.”
The Manitoba hog industry has faced a combination of economic ills and government impositions that has caused the failure of most of the province’s independent hog-only farms.
Farmers suffered when the value of the Canadian dollar suddenly rose in the mid-2000s by more than 20 percent, making debt loads harder to bear when hog prices were based on U.S. dollar values.
At the same time, the spiralling in-crease in feedgrain prices forced many farmers into tight margins or losses, and that phenomenon has not changed.
The world financial crisis of 2008, the H1N1 outbreak and other shocks also hammered hog prices at vital times, preventing farmers across North America from rebuilding equity. The 2012 feedgrain price spike was another blow.
As well, farmers in the Red River Valley have grappled with tough new phosphorus regulations that will force many farmers to spread manure across more land, something that isn’t possible for many. However, those farmers can’t move their operations to other parts of the province because of the province-wide ban on hog barn construction.
Other problems have compounded the chronic losses, including the provincial ban on coal-burning boilers such as those installed by many Hutterite colonies in the 2000s.
Kostyshyn said he thinks all elements of the pork industry need to be involved in the recovery, including packers.
Packers have already moved aggressively to ensure their own pig supply, with Maple Leaf buying bankrupt Puratone and Olymel buying Big Sky Farms.
Meanwhile, the Hytek hog production company from LaBroquerie, Man., bought the hog slaughter plant in Neepawa, Man., and is running its hogs through there.
However, the pork council thinks it is unrealistic to expect packing plants to finance loans to independent hog farmers, equating it to expecting elevator companies to finance grain farmers.
The main marketing agency for independent hog producers fears that the absence of anything to help hog farmers survive the present crisis will lead to the corporatization of the hog industry, with no standalone hog farms left in a few years.
Kostyshyn said country-of-origin labelling in the United States is hurting the Manitoba hog industry, and he supports Canada’s efforts to right that trade wrong.
“I want to assure you all that (federal agriculture) minister (Gerry) Ritz and I are on the same page,” said Kostyshyn. “I stand behind minister Ritz on the choices he makes to make our point be known.”
Kostyshyn said he has been talking with Minnesota and other state agriculture officials and farm leaders about the costs of COOL and said he hopes they join more vocally in the fight against the law.
“I think what we need is a little more reinforcement from our U.S. producers who believe the trade should continue on,” said Kostyshyn. “I think we need to have a united front of people thinking the same message.”
