WINNIPEG – Manitoba Pork hopes to have its popular forward contracting program running again by Jan. 15.
The organization is finalizing a new contract with packers that will spell out a new pricing formula, said president Ken Foster.
Manitoba Pork suspended the program on Nov. 2 after provincial agriculture minister Harry Enns announced the marketing agency’s monopoly on selling hogs in the province would end.
Foster said the announcement “threw us into an area of uncertain risk” because no one was sure what type of price formula would apply under the new rules.
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Foster added negotiations for the new contract have been clouded by the dual marketing issue because packers aren’t sure about what services they’ll have to pay for under dual marketing.
Manitoba Pork now handles settlements with producers. But if farmers contract directly with a packer, Foster said he doesn’t know who will be responsible for making the settlement.
An industry-government committee chaired by University of Manitoba agriculture economist Daryl Kraft and assistant deputy minister Dave Donaghy was to meet for the first time on Jan. 11. It is expected to decide how the industry will work under the new rules.
Foster, who is part of the committee, said he doesn’t know what role Manitoba Pork will play in the industry. But if the group is marketing hogs, Foster insists it won’t be selling leftovers.
He said some producers who support open marketing wrongly think “they’ll be able to make a contract with a packer and then dump whatever is left over at Manitoba Pork.”
