CAMROSE, Alta. – Federal budget cuts have forced provincial pork marketing agencies and packing plants to do their own grading.
“Hiring our own graders is cheaper than the present federal system,” said Paul Allers, a director of Alberta Pork Producers Development Corporation, the province’s monopoly hog seller, at one of its regional meetings.
Under the federal government’s new cost recovery program, the cost of grading hogs was expected to almost double from its present 15 cents a hog to about 26 cents.
In attempts to lower grading costs, Alberta and Saskatchewan have decided to grade their own hogs.
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Alberta formed the Alberta Pork Grading Company. The company is made up of the hog marketing agency and the two hog packing plants, Fletcher’s Fine Foods in Red Deer and Gainers in Edmonton.
Similar in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan has also formed a grading corporation between the monopoly hog selling agency there, SPI marketing group, and Intercontinental Packers of Saskatoon.
“By working with the packers we could do it for the same price or less,” said Ed Schultz, general manager of the Alberta pork agency.
In both provinces, the cost of grading will be shared by packers and hog producers.
In Alberta, by maintaining the 15 cent per hog cost, Schultz estimates it will cost about $300,000 to grade the two million hogs the plants process each year.
Money for research
Surplus money will be used for new pork grading research. The graders now use a light reflecting probe to grade each hog. They hope to eventually move to an ultrasonic probe or video imaging grading system.
The federal government will train the first inspector in each plant. The packing plants will then train their own graders, who will be monitored by the inspector. Each grader’s work will also be monitored for accuracy.
Fletchers now has four graders in training who are expected to start work April 1.
“It’s my belief producers won’t even know there’s a change,” said Schultz.
Manitoba’s pork marketing agency Manitoba Pork has chosen to remain with the federal system for the next year.
Ken Foster, chair of Manitoba Pork, said although the agency will be paying more for the grading services this year it felt it was was better to wait to see how the private grading system worked in other provinces.
