The theory “if you build it they will come” didn’t pan out in Saskatchewan’s hog industry. Ten years ago, the province was high on hogs, poised to become the North American hog mecca.
The Crow freight subsidy was gone, value-added was the buzz word.
The government had a target of tripling hog production to
three million by 2001. More hogs would attract more processors, jobs and economic activity.
Production fell short of the target.
Today, it is about 2.5 million hogs. The climb wasn’t smooth. Investors in community hog barns lost millions of dollars as the production side of the industry consolidated.
The processing sector also fell short.
Just under one million hogs were slaughtered in the province last year. The rest were shipped to other provinces or the United States.
What derailed the pig potential?
In this special report, reporter Karen Briere examines what went wrong and how producers are trying to get back on track.
