Pork producers have a reason to be optimistic as their feed costs drop and demand from the United States strengthens
Glacier FarmMedia – A decline in feed costs and lower hog supplies should create optimism for hog producers, says Farm Credit Canada. Feed costs as a percentage of revenue are now closer to the historic norm, says FCC senior economist Justin Shepherd. The most recent 2024 data shows feed costs average 63 per cent of […] Read moreTag Archives Proposition 12
Issues loom over hog farmers as they gather in Des Moines
North America’s hog industry is grappling with multiple issues these days, but is presently feeling better than some of the other livestock industries. That doesn’t mean that everything’s great, but not yet having to deal with avian flu infections is keeping hog farmers in a cautiously optimistic mood about their challenges. More World Pork Expo […] Read more
VIDEO: Hog producers face challenges in the upcoming year
Changing diseases, new rules in export markets and relatively high feedgrain prices create headwinds for the industry
Hog producers are hunkered down for a tough year as reduced margins combine with trade chaos to create a cloudy outlook. Yet beneath those stormy skies, hog farms continue to invest in open housing systems. They are building new barns, successfully tackling tough disease issues and setting bold targets for further improvements. That was the message as the province’s […] Read more
Public-driven pork policy brings related headaches
Direct democracy may be a great idea but it can create unintended headaches. Consider California’s Proposition 12, which establishes minimum space requirements for egg-laying hens, breeding pigs and veal calves. Its effects extend far beyond the state’s borders and therein lies one of the problems. Under the new regime, pork sold in the state must […] Read more
New American pork regulations will likely boost inflation
In the next months, American consumers are going to be getting a textbook case of inflation creation as pork prices respond to recent snags regulated into the industry. Canadian farmers are going to be experiencing a textbook example of how regulatory inefficiencies often cost everybody money and benefit almost nobody, as well as achieving few […] Read more
Uncertainty looms for hog sector in the wake of Prop 12
The impacts of a California animal welfare law that took full effect on the first day of 2024 are already being felt, according to Manitoba Pork general manager Cam Dahl. “Yes, Jan. 1 was a deadline but, in truth, Proposition 12 has been enforced since July,” he said. Proposition 12, or Prop 12, is a […] Read more
Carcass competition spices up Man. hog show
Slumping lean hog prices have made for trying times recently in the industry, but producer interest was high at trade show
BRANDON — Anyone who wanted to meet a young, competitive, chatty hog producer last week just had to hang outside the glass-fronted hog cooler at the Brandon Hog and Livestock Show. There, throughout the event, groups of young men, mostly Hutterites, came by, approached the glass and appraised the top five carcasses on display. To […] Read more
Borders are significant — in both good and bad ways
Borders matter. They can work well. When they’re used like they are at Emerson-Pembina to limit the spread of disease, dangerous people and illegal goods, they can help trade flourish. But when they’re used to chop up trade and business, they can become a human-made nightmare.
Proposition 12 could bring big trouble for the livestock trade
Gary Stordy, a former CPC director, said the law would affect Canada’s pork industry, which exported nearly five million feeder pigs, more than 1.5 million market hogs and more than 1.4 million tonnes of finished pork products to the United States in 2021.
U.S. ruling chills pork industry
“There’s a lot of uncertainty and confusion,” Darcy Fitzgerald, executive director of Alberta Pork, said in an interview.
