No holiday for pig producers
Most people thought things couldn’t get worse.
But last week it became clear hog prices had a little more distance to fall to truly hit bottom.
Manitoba index 100 hog prices fell below $50 per 100 kilograms including premiums, down about $10 per ckg from the previous week’s average.
Prices in the United States Midwest dropped below $10 (U.S.) per 100 pounds, $4-$5 per cwt. lower than the week before.
No hog shortage
The reason? So darned many hogs that packing plants can’t kill them fast enough. They are full, so there is no incentive to pay more for hogs.
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Plants in the United States are killing more than 2.2 million hogs a week, almost 16 percent more than last December.
The strike at Ontario’s Quality Meat Packers is making the situation even worse.
And because slaughter weights are up, there is even more pork produced than the slaughter numbers indicate.
Glenn Grimes, an agricultural economist from the University of Missouri who last summer was one of the first to warn of a crash in hog prices, predicts it might take until February for U.S. cash prices to climb above $30 per cwt., the break-even point for many producers.
Governments here and in the United States have started to respond to the desperate situation.
Also, retail prices have started to drop a little and that might spark increased consumption.
But it is going to be a difficult, worry-filled Christmas for many hog producers.
And yet, in a time when their businesses and livelihood are threatened, a number of producers have shown a generosity of spirit in keeping with the season.
They donated hogs and worked out deals with packers to supply food banks with pork. Meat is usually in short supply in food bank hampers, but this winter, the disadvantaged should have a more varied and protein-rich diet thanks to hog farmers.
Most of us give a little more to charity at Christmas, but a heartfelt salute should be given to these farmers for what they did.
Public relations
And it should be noted that in the public relations struggle for taxpayer support for an agricultural support package, such deeds of human kindness argue strongly in favor of helping farmers.
You can’t help but respect those who, even though it must seem that the walls are crumbling around them, have the presence of mind to see a way for others to benefit from their misfortune.
