Fewer farmers are producing hogs in Alberta.
Alberta Pork conducted a census this spring and found 381 producers, which is a sharp decline from the 1,315 who counted themselves as hog farmers in 2001. The last 2006 Statistics Canada agriculture census reported 950 producers.
“The numbers are down. It’s these 381 producers who are still producing close to three million hogs,” said Jurgen Preugschas, who raises about 20,000 hogs each year at his Mayerthorpe, Alta., farm and is chair of the Canadian Pork Council.
He said more than 450 farms took advantage of the $75 million federal government hog transition program, in which they agreed to close their barns and not produce any hogs for three years. In total, Canada removed about 100,000 sows.
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“Some of the older barns are done but some of the newer barns will want to come back in three years.”
More than half of Alberta’s current facilities were built between 1996 and 2005. Only seven percent of farms were built since then.
Many of the people who emptied their barns had other farm income or off-farm jobs.
“Society expects farmers to work off the farm,” he said. “There isn’t a doctor in this country who would have a second job.”
Preugschas is concerned producers face financial insecurity with the high Canadian dollar and a lack of cash flow. Gary Stordy of the pork council agreed.
“Market opportunities will dictate if these barns come back into play,” he said.
The Alberta census classified farms as small with fewer than 800 sows and large with more than 800. Hutterian Brethren colony operations were in a separate category. There were about a third of each type.
Large producers were responsible for nearly half of total production.
The farm population is evenly split with southern Alberta having the most at 142 farms. The central region has the most sows at 54,238. There are a total of 137,266 sows.
The Canadian Pork Council figures based on Statistics Canada reports show a downward trend in hog farms since 2005.
As of April 1, 2005, there were 12,470 farms. For the same period in 2010, there were 7,150 farms left.
