October, at least so far, has not been an encouraging month for the hog industry, particularly in Saskatchewan.
The province’s hog marketing system is under scrutiny because of a controversial plan to split hog allocation between two packing plants. The provincial government is threatening to end single-desk marketing.
And a Saskatchewan court found that large proposed hog plants must go through full environmental reviews instead of enjoying the exemption for normal agricultural operations.
Meanwhile, a Maple Leaf Meats executive was criss-crossing the Prairies, spreading a gloomy message about lack of Canadian competitiveness in hog processing.
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Just to top it all off, a scientist reported how he had trained pigs to enjoy playing computer video games. That prompted one newspaper to suggest, tongue in cheek, that hog plant costs might rise markedly because of the expense of installing all those computer game cubicles.
None of these news items, however, should be a serious threat to hopes of a greatly expanded Prairie hog industry.
One way or the other, hogs will be transformed into pork, which will flow to the rapidly growing world markets.
Hog plant developers have shown they can implement practices and technology that minimize odor and protect water supplies. They and producers should be able to convince their already-sympathetic governments to set out reasonable requirements for environmental reviews.
The most worrisome allegation is that Canadian processing plants may not be competitive with U.S. plants because of higher wage and other costs. More than three million hogs a year are already going south, taking potential jobs with them.
That situation could be understandably troubling for individual companies – like Maple Leaf, which is embroiled in a labor dispute at its Edmonton plant, where it is trying to lower wages.
But other processors, who are investing in expansion, seem to be confident they will be able to attract hogs from Prairie producers. And Maple Leaf itself plans a”world-class” new hog processing facility on the Prairies.
Prairie processors have an advantage in bidding for Prairie hogs, since it can cost $10 to ship a hog to a U.S. processor. If some of the Canadians can’t make their operations efficient enough to offer producers competitive prices with that margin, then others will.
The Prairies’ natural advantages offer a profitable future for hog producers and processors alike. But video games would be going a little too far.
