On Monday morning, Dave Hospers paid some bills and searched the internet for some good news to e-mail friends in the pork business.
Helping keep up each other’s spirits to fend off the black dogs of despair is one way Hospers knows pork producers can make it through a deepening financial crisis. If he hears a friend has had a particularly bad day, he’ll drop what he’s doing and go visit him.
“We have to work with other pig producers to give each other support and keep an eye on each other.
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“Together we can make it,” said Hospers of Neerlandia, Alta., a Dutch farming community northwest of Edmonton.
That growing sense of despair in the pork industry prompted Alberta Pork officials to send a letter to all producers Sept. 11 with the phone numbers for the Farm Debt Mediation Services, Alberta Mental Health and AFAC, the animal welfare office.
“As the result of financial problems, there is real concern arising about animal welfare issues resulting from producers’ inability to obtain feed for their animals. If you are nearing a crisis situation where your bank has pulled financing or your feed company will no longer extend the credit to cover the next load of feed, please contact Alberta Pork,” said the letter.
Murray Roeske, a former pork producer and now an advisor with Alberta Pork, said the group is concerned farmers will simply walk away from their farm and their animals.
“We’re really concerned about the mental health of the producer. The stress they’re under is tremendous,” said Roeske. “When guys get into trouble, everything looks black.”
Jim Haggins, general manager of the Alberta Farm Animal Care Association, said AFAC hasn’t received many calls yet about animals in distress, but it is working with other agencies to put together a contingency plan.
“We’re trying to get the word out to as many people as we can in the industry, to keep an ear to the ground. If something serious develops, a committee is set to get involved and prevent any animal welfare issues,” he said.
“We would hope if producers feel they are in a serious situation, they themselves would give us a call and prevent any animal welfare issues.”
Hospers said pork producers’ thoughts range from “despair to cynicism.”
When he emigrated from the Netherlands 10 years ago, government officials from Manitoba and Alberta were falling over each other at recruitment drives in Europe promising a good life for pork producers.
Alberta politicians said pork producers were needed to help diversify the ailing grain industry. It was the same in Manitoba, with promises of a good life for hog producers.
Grain producers don’t even want to talk to pork producers now, he said.
“If we want to buy feed, we have to bring a bank certified cheques. The first thing they ask is, ‘can you pay up front?’ ” Hospers said.
“Grain farmers have forgotten what it’s like to be on the other side. I don’t have a problem paying yet, but it’s that sense of betrayal.”
Hospers also wonders at lack of support from the other commodity groups who need the livestock industry to remain healthy.
“If we all go down, where are they going to sell their off-grade grain? Send it to China.”
Roeske said there are concerns an election call will scuttle transition payments for pork producers announced by the federal government earlier this summer.
While the details are sketchy, it was a plan pork producers were hoping to take to their bankers to keep the credit flowing.
Joe Kleinsasser, chair of Saskatchewan Pork, said his group has no plans to send out a similar letter as Alberta to its producers, but staff is working with pork producers.
“Everyone is in the same boat,” said Kleinsasser of Rosetown.
“For some pork producers, it’s not a pretty picture.”
Saskatchewan Pork officials have warned the provincial government that if something isn’t done soon, animal welfare offices will be swamped when producers walk away, leaving their animals.
“It’s something always in the back of our minds.”
Hospers said when he talks to producers, he compares the pork industry to animals on the Serengeti plains in Africa. Predators will pick off a single animal on its own, but moving as a group, the animals stay safe.
It’s the same with pork producers. Working together and supporting each other is key to staying alive.
“We have to look after each other. My family has been farming for hundreds of years. I’ll be damned if I’m going to be the one to drop the ball.”
Manitoba Pork officials said they have worked with producers throughout the spring and summer about the help available and will continue to monitor the state of pork producers in the province.
