Maple Leaf Foods Inc. is looking for a place in Western Canada to build a plant to slaughter three million hogs a year.
The chief executive officer says he’s getting calls from agriculture ministers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, trying to convince the company their province is the right place.
The provinces are in a race to increase hog production.
“My own opinion is wherever that world class plant goes, that will attract those hogs and that hog production,” said Archie McLean.
“They go hand in hand.”
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McLean said the firm won’t make an immediate decision on the location. Right now, he said it’s content to continue with slaughtering for the domestic market at its Burns plant in Winnipeg, and for export at the Gainers plant it leases in Edmonton.
But he said the company wants to contract directly with hog producers, as it has started to do in Manitoba’s dual hog market, rather than working through a marketing agency.
“I give (Manitoba agriculture minister Harry Enns) and (Manitoba premier Gary) Filmon full marks for taking the lead on this dual marketing on hogs,” said McLean, speaking at the annual meeting of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association.
In an interview, Enns said it will be a major challenge to get Maple Leaf to build in Manitoba.
“We have to create the climate that before they invest $50 or $60 million in a plant, they want continuity of supply,” he said.
Apart from the Burns plant, there are three other processors in the province. None of them are large enough to have the economies of scale McLean and Burns say are necessary to compete in Asian markets.
While he acknowledges Alberta is closer to the target markets, Enns said he hopes cheaper feed costs will be Manitoba’s trump card.
He said he wants Maple Leaf to include production in nearby regions in eastern Saskatchewan and northern states when analyzing supply numbers.
“We have to show the people who make the decisions at Maple Leaf … that this region will be producing nine, 10, 12 million hogs” by 2000, Enns said.
Proven track record
McLean said the company also plans to introduce an integrated production program in Western Canada that works well for it for chicken and hogs in Ontario.
The company offers a program to hog producers who deliver to its Burlington, Ont. plant.
The program features genetics, feed through its Shur-Gain arm, veterinarians, engineering expertise and handling.
Farmers who follow the program and meet specifications are rewarded up to $8 per hog, McLean said.
The company is also offering grants of up to $100,000 to Ontario farmers who want to expand operations in an effort to double production at the plant.
The company issued a news release last week to assure producers in Alberta it would continue to process hogs in that region. Maple Leaf owns a hog processing plant in Edmonton.
