About $4.5 million continues to be allocated through the Hog Farm Transition Program, the $75 million federal program that pays Canadian hog farmers to empty their production barns and get out of pig production for at least three years.Officials from the Canadian Pork Council, the organization allocating HFTP funds, said that $70.5 million of the $75 million funding pool has been allocated among 420 producers.As part of the transition program, hog producers were invited to submit bids in a series of four tenders, stating how much money they would require to get out of hog production.The lowest bids in each tender were accepted. Unsuccessful bidders could submit new bids in subsequent tenders.After the fourth and final tender was completed, a total of $4.5 million of residual money had yet to be allocated.That residual money is now being offered to producers who participated in the fourth tender but whose bids were not accepted originally.The money is being offered to the 50 producers next in line.Those producers must confirm their intent to participate by a prescribed deadline.When it is complete, the program is expected to reduce the country’s sow herd by an estimated 137,000 sows or 10 percent of the national inventory.At the beginning of 2010, Canada’s sow inventory stood at 1.31 million animals.The CPC will also be in charge of monitoring herd liquidation efforts and auditing successful applicants to ensure compliance.Through the completion of four tenders, the value of successful bids varied widely, ranging from a low of $300 per animal unit equivalent, or AUE, to a high of $1,034.In other words, successful producers who agreed to take an AUE out of production received one-time payments ranging from $300 to $1,034.The HFTP was funded by the federal agriculture department as an emergency measure aimed at reducing hog inventories and stabilizing hog prices in Canada.
Hog inventory reduction program winding down
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