A group of consultants that helps farmers and investors get into the swine industry is starting a service for companies that sell drugs, feed, genetics and equipment for hogs.
Canstar Project Development Group Ltd. is building four barns, each holding 216 feeder pigs, where it will do contract research for companies developing new products for the hog industry.
“We hope there’s a fairly good demand out there, obviously, or we wouldn’t be building it,” said Doug Small, vice-president of DGH Engineering Ltd., which is part of the Canstar group.
Read Also
Message to provincial agriculture ministers: focus on international trade
International trade stakeholders said securing markets in the face of increasing protectionism should be the key priority for Canada’s agriculture ministers.
Small said the only comparable research facility to the new project is the Prairie Swine Centre. But he said he doesn’t think the new facility will compete with the centre near Saskatoon.
“We just feel that there’s enough demand out there that that’s not really an issue,” said Small.
New products for the hog industry have to be tested and proven, said Small, which requires replicated research trials under controlled conditions. This kind of research is hard to do in commercial barns, he said.
The group’s first research project will start in the new year. Small declined to describe the project.
