WINNIPEG – With an abundance of cheap feed grain, cheap land, and now the loss of the Crow subsidy, hogs are often touted as the future of farming in Manitoba.
So swine researchers in Manitoba are scratching their heads after last month’s federal budget cut the swine research program from the Agriculture Canada research centre in Brandon. The program has been part of the centre for more than 100 years.
Bob McKay, head of the program, said four scientists, four technicians, seven barn workers and two term workers are in shock after hearing that their work will end as of April 1997.
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Shock is not the word to describe how Jim Elliot felt when he heard the news.
“Craziness! That’s what it is,” said Elliot, dean of the agriculture faculty at the University of Manitoba. “And there’s been no consultation . . . I haven’t even bothered phoning (department officials) yet because I’m so mad.”
Al Robertson, director of the centre, said research will be consolidated at another centre in Western Canada sometime within the next two years. He said the privately funded Prairie Swine Centre in Saskatoon has been approached and has expressed interest, but serious negotiations have not started.
Elliot said if the end of the Crow subsidy means more hog production in the province, “it doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense to take the research program . . . and put it over to a province that already doesn’t produce half as many pigs as Manitoba anyway.”
Elliot said he plans to meet with colleagues in the provincial government and industry to talk about asking the federal government to change its decision.
Robertson said the move is expected to save about $250,000 a year. He said nine staff will be transferred, and five positions will be declared surplus. He said he hopes buy-out packages will prevent layoffs.
Ken Foster, chair of Manitoba Pork est., said he wasn’t surprised at the cut. The federal government has been expecting the industry to pick up more of the tab for research, he said.
The marketing board contributes money for research at the Brandon centre, but also funds projects at the Prairie Swine Centre and other organizations.
Good work performed
Loss of the Brandon centre is “a little bit like losing an old friend,” Foster said. “The Brandon research station has been part of our industry for a long time and they’ve done some very good work there.”
The move will be a loss to the province, and is ironic given that hog promotion is heavily emphasized here, said Foster. “If (the centre’s research) is picked up and done properly at other research facilities, I guess I should be happy about that.”
McKay said he is the only swine geneticist in the federal government and is worried that if his research is not continued, the industry could suffer the consequences.
His work relates the genetic make-up of hogs to the quality of their meat, including flavor, tenderness, color and amount of marbling.
“Canada is a net exporter of pork,” he said. “If we want to maintain our status and improve our status in offshore markets, we’d better be . . . prepared to modify our selection strategies so that we can improve carcass quality.”
Bits on Brandon
- The largest swine research program in the West (15 jobs) was chopped from Brandon’s federal agriculture research centre.
- As Brandon becomes a centre specializing in black soil research, 19 positions will be added within two years.
- Manitoba Pork planned to contribute $80,000 over the next two years to McKay projects concerning meat quality. They may be transferred to Saskatoon.
- Meanwhile, Manitoba’s pro-vincial government is still pushing for more and more hog production as a way to diversify.
- The corn-breeding program (three jobs) was also chopped.
