Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

Quebec's impact on Ontario Hog Farmers

After reading yesterday's post about ASRA's latest payout to Quebec hog farmers I did some simple math and based on the amount of market hogs produced, Quebec farmers have received close to 50 dollars a market hog in support from their provincial government this year.

This would sting a lot less if Quebec was eating all of the pork that they produce but it is no secret that truckload after truckload of market hogs are heading west down the 401 and displacing Ontario hogs at our kill plants. Furthermore, it is subsidized Quebec produced pork that retailers are buying in place of our Ontario products. (Consider that Quebec produces approx 7 mil market hogs while only consuming 2 mil)

How is it that we have a system in our country that allows one province to act on their own, ignoring national policy surrounding hog market support. As a farmer here, this upsets me, my farm is being threatened because of the actions of fellow Canadians.

It is time that we put some funding together to estimate the damages that Quebec producers are causing Ontario farmers. These payouts must stop and the playing field must be leveled. We cannot control the actions of the American government but one would hope that our governments would seek to make sure ALL Canadian hog farmers are being treated equally.

Stew

Views: 194

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Peter Gredig on October 3, 2009 at 12:34am
Stew - it is crazy to have trade/safety net disparity within our own country. I guess the way ag support programs are cost shared between feds and prov enable this potential for have/have not policy?
Permalink Reply by pigsrgr8 on October 4, 2009 at 4:50am
Good points Stew:

If this was not bad enough in these tough times......this is likely another result of the strong Canadian dollar....

I noticed that when shopping at a Loblaws store this past week that are Ontario consumer markets are being overrun by cheap US pork products. Smithfield bacon was on sale for $1.97/lb, Cook's Spiral Hams were being sold at $1.97/lb and Farmland cryovac back ribs were being sold for around $6 per Kg....

Now Loblaws is also selling the Farmer Highlighted story pork - picture of the farmer...raised naturally etc...nice packaging. But the price was 3 times what the regular pork was priced at... I doubt you will build a market when the price differences are so great.

It seems like it is bad and only getting worse...
Permalink Reply by John Donkers on October 7, 2009 at 1:28am
I totally agree with your comments Stewart, as we speak there is a major grass roots initiative being formed that will strive to include all sectors of the pork industry within Ontario. Unfortunately this uneven playing field developed by Quebec has been known to us for many years but nothing was done about it causing Ontario to be become literally the dumping grounds for pork at the expense of the Ontario producer and packer.

We have an opportunity here to hold our Ontario government accountable for the lack of leadership shown, and to demand action immediately before there is a complete wipeout of the Ontario pork industry. The Canadian Pork Council by design is also very flawed because of Quebec's influence around that board table. When we ask the CPC for help in this matter they basically say, "sorry we cannot go there if fear of what Quebec's reaction might be"! Is this not rediculous?

Time is running out, all Ontario producers have to stand up to this injustice and demand action.
Permalink Reply by rein minnema on October 9, 2009 at 12:08pm
John,

You did hit the nail right on the head, why is this a public secret?????????????????????

John Donkers said:
I totally agree with your comments Stewart, as we speak there is a major grass roots initiative being formed that will strive to include all sectors of the pork industry within Ontario. Unfortunately this uneven playing field developed by Quebec has been known to us for many years but nothing was done about it causing Ontario to be become literally the dumping grounds for pork at the expense of the Ontario producer and packer.

We have an opportunity here to hold our Ontario government accountable for the lack of leadership shown, and to demand action immediately before there is a complete wipeout of the Ontario pork industry. The Canadian Pork Council by design is also very flawed because of Quebec's influence around that board table. When we ask the CPC for help in this matter they basically say, "sorry we cannot go there if fear of what Quebec's reaction might be"! Is this not rediculous?

Time is running out, all Ontario producers have to stand up to this injustice and demand action.

▶ Reply to Discussion

RSS

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

The Most Wanted Wheat Seed Across the Prairies — AAC WALSH

PART ONE The sign was up before anyone knew who put it there. No name. No description. Just a dark silhouette nailed to the side of the grain elevator, paper already curling at the edges where the prairie wind worried it loose. MOST WANTED. That was all it said. In a town like this, that was enough. People here understood value. They understood timing. They noticed things that arrived quietly and stayed put. By midmorning, more than a few sets of eyes had found their way to the elevator wall, lingered longer than necessary, then moved on without comment. At the café, steam rose off coffee cups and hung in the air like unfinished sentences. “Yield and protein like that,” someone said eventually, not looking up, “oughta be outlawed.” It was meant as a joke. It didn’t land like one. No one asked who that was. Nobody needed to. The phrase carried weight all on its own, passing from table to table, slipping into conversations that paused just long enough to acknowledge it. By the

Canada-China Trade Agreement Boosts Outlook for Canola and Prairie Seed Sheds

Renewed exports may narrow the basis and reduce surplus stocks, but rebuilding grower confidence will take time. Tariffs and economic trends are often discussed in the abstract, but their consequences couldn’t be more concrete for Prairie seed sheds. In recent months, real-world examples have already reared their heads — such as canola multiplications in California facing counter-tariffs — forcing Canada’s seed sector to adapt to a trade environment that can change quickly, even when agreements are reached. The recent trade deal between Canada and China has brought some much-needed relief to the sector, particularly around market access and export movement. But for many farmers and seed companies, the agreement also underscores a hard truth: the impacts of trade disruptions don’t disappear overnight. It is little surprise that global trade ripples affect local decisions: fewer seed options, changing input costs, and constrained access to genetics. “Tariffs create uncertainty in an

Canada Gains Expanded Meat Access in Indonesia

Canada has secured a major expansion of market access for beef and pork exports to Indonesia, marking a significant milestone following the signing of the Canada–Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) last September. 

'Phone in one hand, beer in the other': High-tech automation is giving farmers more time

Anyone visiting Don Badour’s cow-calf operation in the last 18 months will have noticed his cattle sporting some spiffy orange bling around their necks. The bovine baubles aren’t just for looks, however. They’re part of a sophisticated virtual fencing system that helps the Lanark County farmer monitor and track his herd’s movement and wellbeing. Badour is quite pleased with the investment — and so are the cows. “I thought that the cows might be not too happy with them on, but we put them on, they gave their heads one or two shakes, and that's it,” Badour said during a panel discussion at the 2026 Northern Ontario Ag Conference, hosted by the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance in Sudbury Feb. 6-7. “They've come to realize they're there. So we haven't had any trouble with the cows rejecting them.”? ?Made by the New Zealand company Gallagher, the eShepherd neck bands weigh about eight pounds each and are powered by solar-charged batteries. They run on GPS and the system is ope

Trump EPA sued over reapproval of dicamba herbicide as farm and environmental groups warn of renewed crop damage

Farmers and environmental organizations have launched a new legal challenge against the Environmental Protection Agency, arguing its latest approval of the controversial herbicide dicamba ignores court rulings, scientific evidence and the interests of growers harmed by chemical drift. The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court by a coalition that includes the National Family Farm Coalition, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Food Safety and Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network, challenges the EPA’s decision to re-register dicamba for use on genetically engineered soybeans and cotton. The decision marks the latest chapter in a years-long dispute over dicamba, a weedkiller widely used in U.S. agriculture but criticized for its tendency to volatilize and drift, damaging nearby crops, orchards and natural vegetation. “EPA’s re-registration of dicamba flies in the face of a decade of damning evidence, real world farming know-how and sound science, and, oh-by-the-way, t

© 2026   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service