The federal sow cull program is expected to benefit Saskatchewan’s hungry.
A national breeding cull program designed to reduce Canada’s swine herd is being used by the industry to deliver scarce protein to Saskatchewan’s food banks.
Food Banks of Saskatchewan executive director Bill Hall said the province’s $440,000 support for the Sask Pork initiative will deliver a year’s supply of meat to the province’s food bank system.
“This is unprecedented in our histories. Meat is always in short supply at the food banks,” he said.
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The producer association approached the provincial government a few weeks ago to request money to pay for the transportation, slaughter and packing of the culled sows, said Neil Ketilson of Sask Pork.
The money will fund the packing of about 2,000 sows that are being removed from the Saskatchewan herd. Low animal prices and high feed costs have caused producers to suffer as much as a $60 per head loss on their marketed pigs in 2007 and 2008.
Culling sows is the federal answer to avoid even lower domestic prices for pigs in the immediate future, said Bob Bjornerud, Saskatchewan minister of agriculture.
The program requires producers to empty their hog barns for three years in exchange for a payment of $225 per eliminated sow from the federal government.
Saskatoon area hog producer John Germs said he is taking part in the program and some of his sows will find their way into the food bank program as he closes barns on his farm.
“It’s morally the right thing to do with the animals,” he said.
Florian Possberg of Big Sky Pork in Humboldt, Sask., said wasting meat is never acceptable.
“How could we do that when there are people in this province that go hungry? Farmers can’t imagine that,” he said.
Joe Kleinsasser of the Rosetown Hutterite Brethren Colony said morally it is the only thing that he could see happening with the culled animals.
“As farmers of livestock we often process our own food or get others to do it for us. We don’t let food go to waste and can’t see letting it happen now. It wouldn’t be good for our society. As farmers, we have a responsibility to do what we can to prevent hunger and this is an opportunity to do that,” he said.
All three men are on the board of Sask Pork and say their organization couldn’t stomach the idea of burying culled animals when the sows could be turned into pork.
The federal payment program requires that the meat from culled sows not reach traditional consumer food markets to avoid further reduction of domestic prices.
Kleinsasser said the food bank option doesn’t interrupt the consumer market because those who use the food banks can seldom afford meat on a regular basis.
“We’re the first province to step forward to do this,” he said.
Ketilson’s organization will handle the logistics of the program and has heard from regional meat packers Harvest Meats and Drake Meats.
“It isn’t limited to larger packers. But it needs to be efficient to ensure we can process as many pigs as possible with the $440,000,” he said.
Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall and members of his cabinet were in Saskatoon to announce the program.
