Federal funding for Canadian pork marketing | Federal and provincial funds also announced for 27 research projects in Saskatchewan
The federal government was busy making funding announcements last week pertaining to livestock and forage production and marketing.
At the Banff Pork Seminar, agriculture minister Gerry Ritz’s announcement of $15 million to support pork marketing initiatives at home and abroad was received positively by industry officials, whose attention didn’t drift from major issues of trade and market access.
“It’s good to hear some support today, but we could do more, we can do better, at supporting our pork industry,” Maple Leaf’s Troy Warren told the conference.
Read Also
Land crash warning rejected
A technical analyst believes that Saskatchewan land values could be due for a correction, but land owners and FCC say supply/demand fundamentals drive land prices – not mathematical models
“I would suggest probably as an industry in Canada we receive some of the least amount of support with respect to marketing money for international trade development, fighting for our rights in terms of negotiating with countries,” he said.
The five-year financial commitment will fund promotional efforts domestically, where Canadian pork fights for customers with American meat, and in markets such as Japan, the European Union and South America.
“We need to be fully recognized at home and abroad as a reliable supplier of high quality pork products,” said Edouard Asnong, chair of Canada Pork International, which will receive the funds.
Speaking at the event and to reporters, Ritz touted Canada’s Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union, which will allow for up to 75,000 tonnes of Canadian pork into that market, up from the previous quota of 6,000 tonnes.
“They’re professional protectionists. They’re really good at it,” said American economist Steve Meyer of Paragon Economics.
“I don’t know if it’s as big a deal as what it’s being made out to be by the government.”
Industry officials expressed greater interest in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and ongoing talks with South Korea, where the U.S. has already established a free trade agreement.
“Another year can’t pass without us getting a deal,” said Warren. “It’s just not acceptable from my perspective.”
In Saskatchewan, the federal and provincial governments increased research spending for more livestock and forage projects.
The two governments announced $4.2 million in research spending for 27 projects, which is up from $3.4 million for 23 projects last year.
Provincial agriculture minister Lyle Stewart said innovation drives in-creases in production.
“We’re on the northern fringe of the livestock producing area of North America and so we find that it pays big dividends for us to do research in Saskatchewan for what works best,” he told reporters after the announcement at the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Conference.
Projects include $1.8 million for beef research, $1.1 million for swine, nearly $472,000 for dairy, $335,000 for poultry and $282,500 for forage.
The University of Saskatchewan will receive nearly $1.4 million of the total, and the Vaccine and infectious Disease Organization will receive $890,000.
Other recipients include the Western Beef Development Centre, the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, the Prairie Swine Centre, Agriculture Canada and the Sask-atchewan Alfalfa Seed Producers Development Commission.
“There’s a project to try to improve the yield and marbling in beef cattle, a project to develop a new legume forage plant,” Stewart said.
Another will examine how to reduce the effects of ergot-contaminated feed. Industry spokespeople said the research dollars are welcome because they lead to long-term benefits.
Producers attending the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association’s annual meeting and the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association semi-annual meeting last week passed resolutions of support for the Saskatchewan Forage Network to co-ordinate research priorities on behalf of all livestock producers.
The network was announced a year ago as a way for industry partners to work together to direct research.
Rancher Murray McGillivray of Radville, Sask., said it is particularly important for the network to continue and work with the in-coming forage research chair at the U of S.
“There is a lot of strength in the forage network,” added SCA director Ryan Sommerfeld in addressing the motion during the SCA meeting.
The government contributions are funded through Growing Forward 2 and Saskatchewan’s Agriculture Development Fund.
The federal funding announcement in Alberta will help maintain forages as part of the crop rotation in the Peace River region.
Jennifer Otani, an entomologist with Agriculture Canada, hoped the $923,000 will continue to show the importance of forages in a crop rotation, especially in Alberta and British Columbia’s Peace River region.
Historically, forages have been an important part of the crop rotation for farmers in the Peace River region, especially with its shorter number of growing days but longer day length.
Like other crops, forage seed is losing the acreage battle to high income crops such as wheat and canola and forage acres have been taken out of production. One of the biggest barriers to forage production is the difficulty getting forages in and out of the crop rotation.
The federal research station in Beaverlodge will use a portion of the funds to examine the soil and nutrient benefits of forages and show how forage is a good alternative financially over the four year life of the crop.
“We feel forage seed has a vital role in crop rotation,” she said.
Forage crops don’t generate as much income as canola or wheat, but they also don’t use the same input costs.
