Saskatchewan’s pork industry is about to put on its 24th annual symposium.
Conference organizers say attendance at the event has grown steadily and is expected to surpass 500 people this Nov. 13-15 in Saskatoon.
Industry promoters wish they could boast about the same kind of evolution in the province’s hog sector.
Saskatchewan’s hog production has increased from one million animals in 1997 to 1.8 million in 2001.
But the province’s share of the prairie herd has remained static over that period, hovering around 16 percent. That’s because Alberta and Manitoba have been growing their herds at a similar rate.
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The province’s share of the prairie slaughter is even lower. Only 13 percent of the nearly seven million prairie hogs that were slaughtered last year came from Saskatchewan.
Analysts say the province is lagging behind its neighbours because of a stubborn mindset.
“The thing that irked me a little bit when I was trying to promote the hog industry was that Saskatchewan’s orientation is still grain,” said University of Saskatchewan agriculture economist Gary Storey.
“So what have we seen in Saskatchewan – farmers putting up new inland terminals when we’ve already overcapacitated in that. Alberta and Manitoba were putting money into livestock, hog operations, etcetera.”
A promotional handbook produced by the provincial government says Saskatchewan is the ideal place for a hog industry. There is cheap land, suitable soils and climate, low densities of livestock and people and, most importantly, producers have access to vast amounts of cheap feed.
“Saskatchewan is one of the lowest-cost areas for pork production in North America, due mainly to our abundance of low-cost feed grains such as barley, spring and winter wheat, canola and peas,” the handbook says.
But the statistics belie those claims of superiority.
Manitoba leads the way with 5.7 million hogs and 3.3 million slaughtered. Alberta produces approximately 3.5 million hogs and has slaughtered 1.75 million this year.
Saskatchewan is home to 1.8 million hogs and has slaughtered 800,000 this year.
Saskatchewan Agriculture’s Brad Marceniuk agrees with Storey’s assessment of why the province’s numbers are so low.
“We’re trying to get everybody out of that grain mentality right now,” said the finance and marketing economist.
“We are starting to pick it up. We were just basically late getting off the starting block.”
If the province is playing catch-up, it isn’t reflected in the numbers yet. Its share of prairie production and slaughter has increased in the last few years but only by one or two percentage points.
Infrastructure is limited. There are only three big hog producers in the province and one sizable pork processor.
Big Sky Farms is the largest producer in the province with a 19,000-sow operation. Chief financial officer Mike Deutscher said one main thing has to happen before the industry can reach its potential.
“We have to find a more ready source of capital. We could see three million (hogs) by 2004 with a little bit of luck and the capital that we need.”
If the herd expands, processing capacity might follow. The province has the ability to slaughter about 1.3 million pigs. Last year 922,000 were processed at plants in Saskatchewan.
“We’re certainly hoping that additional processing will follow. By no way is that a guarantee because of course the next step is to sell the product,” said Deutscher.
