Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

Supply Management for Pigs

Here's a story from CFCO radio in Chatham...

Hog producers who had been hoping for a supply managed system, similar to the dairy and egg boards may be disappointed with a study out of Ridgetown. Researcher Ken McEwan says there are probably too many negatives to let the idea work. Partially that’s because Canadian farmers produce a lot more pork than the nation needs. Overall more than 60 per cent of the hogs, or pork products that originate in Canada are exported. In Ontario the figure is closer to 40 per cent but McEwan says it still means about half the industry would have to be shut down. McEwan says it would also shut a lot of processing and packaging companies that fill export demand. A third problem would be potential retaliation. McEwan says trade restrictions could be contrary to the requirements of Nafta and WTO.

http://farmradio.ca/2009/09/supply-managed-pork-likely-a-non-starter/


Do the challenges really outweigh the benefits? It's time to look harder at this rather than give up because it might be tough. ITS TOUGH NOW!!!

Views: 695

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Roadrunner on September 24, 2009 at 1:43pm
I think it is likely a little too late...time to do it was 40 years ago before the industry was so interconnected through out North America....
Permalink Reply by John Beardsley on September 27, 2009 at 11:09am
ken is assuming you would give up on exports and close the borders. what about setting up a northamerican sm plan. and if us won't join then try a bilateral with mexico. it could also limit pork production for export. you are absolutely right about don't give up. challenge authority. if the status quo ain't working then change it. who doesn't want less work and more money?
Permalink Reply by Wayne Black on September 27, 2009 at 1:55pm
If you merge US and CDN markets to create a SM industry it would create an economic crisis on it's own.
"China is both the world's largest producer and consumer of pork products. In 2008, China produced 46.2 million tons of pork, accounting for 45 percent of total output of world pork production.
Despite China's high self-sufficiency rate in pork production, it still imports a considerable amount of pork each year from the US, the EU and Canada, which are the three top pork exporters to China."
Exports from the US to China in the first six months of 2009 was 56,785 tons of pork (down 70% from 2008). In 2008 the US was a NET exporter of almost 2 million tons of pork. In 1994 they were a net importer.
So not only will CDN producers have to cut back - with a North American SM scheme the US producers will also have to cut back substantially. (mind you the bulk of the imports and export numbers are with Mexico and Canada - China and Russia will still suffer to a mild degree).
Tough industry to be in when productivity gains are exceeding consumption gains.

John Beardsley said:
ken is assuming you would give up on exports and close the borders. what about setting up a northamerican sm plan. and if us won't join then try a bilateral with mexico. it could also limit pork production for export. you are absolutely right about don't give up. challenge authority. if the status quo ain't working then change it. who doesn't want less work and more money?
Permalink Reply by pigsrgr8 on September 28, 2009 at 4:34am
I am glad someone took the time to have a look at this.....the current system is not working for alot of the producers who are being financially destroyed.

I like the idea of having revenue locked in with a cost of production formula.

Sure there are alot of reasons against setting a system like dairy but we need to look for new ways of doing business...the old ways are not sustainable for most Ontario pork producers.
Permalink Reply by John Beardsley on September 29, 2009 at 9:24am
it is never too late to fix something that is broken something that isn't working. all you need is someone with the balls to see it through.

pigsrgr8 said:
I am glad someone took the time to have a look at this.....the current system is not working for alot of the producers who are being financially destroyed.

I like the idea of having revenue locked in with a cost of production formula.

Sure there are alot of reasons against setting a system like dairy but we need to look for new ways of doing business...the old ways are not sustainable for most Ontario pork producers.
Permalink Reply by JoAnne Caughill on October 21, 2009 at 8:38am
Ken's report looked in Supply Management on a Canada-wide basis, which the other systems (Dairy, chicken, etc) eventually ended up being - national. I understand that they did not all start out that way - but were Provincial first. If this is true, Ontario is well-positioned for a Provincial SM system. Any comments???
Permalink Reply by pigsrgr8 on October 22, 2009 at 10:02am
Does anyone have a link to Ken M's report?
Permalink Reply by Andrew Campbell on October 23, 2009 at 3:40am
Try this...

http://www.ontariopork.on.ca/User/Docs/Research/reports/09-23-09_su...

pigsrgr8 said:
Does anyone have a link to Ken M's report?
Permalink Reply by Andrew Campbell on October 28, 2009 at 6:07am
Here is another new report from the George Morris Centre - and their thoughts on SM in beef and pork.

http://www.georgemorris.org/aspx/Public/Utils/DbFileViewerPopup.asp...

pigsrgr8 said:
Does anyone have a link to Ken M's report?
Permalink Reply by Roadrunner on October 29, 2009 at 12:38pm
Here is the GM plan summed up after they say Supply Management won't work - their suggestions will work great....lets do this......LOL


At this very difficult point in time, the Canadian beef and pork segments would be better served
by focusing on more tractable alternatives than supply management. For the reasons outlined
above, supply management currently serves as a distraction to more realistic approaches for
addressing challenges in beef and pork marketing. Proposals that involve licensing of producers
or production capacity appear to stop short of a supply management scheme. However, there is
no marketing-related reason to license if there is no intent to regulate production, and the
apparent reason to regulate production is to influence prices1. The same points that bring into
question the efficacy and practicality of implementing a supply management scheme apply, in a
more general sense, to licensing.
The beef and pork segments need to challenge themselves and pursue marketing alternatives that
leverage Canada’s natural advantages as exporters, and set aside apparently simple (but
practically difficult) solutions like supply management. This will require focus, as alternatives
will be more challenging to envision and develop than a mandated supply management scheme.
This will likely involve different relationships between producers and processors; reckoning with
a structurally stronger currency and lagging processing efficiency, and an assimilation of
Canada’s natural resource endowments, product information system, and regulatory inspection
system advantages. As it stands, the supply management debate fragments the beef and pork
segments and detracts from this focus.
1
Permalink Reply by Joe Dales on November 10, 2009 at 4:05am
Shaun Haney forwarded his audio interview with Kevin Grier from the George Morris Centre.

Here is the link so you can listen to the interview.

http://realagriculture.com/2009/11/09/should-canadian-pork-and-beef...

Here is Shaun's Opinion on the issue:

"In my opinion neither the pork or the beef business in Canada will ever become supply managed for many of the same reasons that Kevin discusses in the interview. Never mind that I don’t think you would ever get the domestic stakeholders to buy in, but the bigger obstacle is getting this sort of massive change past the WTO. Canada will be under growing pressure to absolve its dairy and chicken quotas in the future so adding to the list of supply managed industries is slim at best in today’s environment."
Permalink Reply by pigsrgr8 on November 18, 2009 at 3:30am
So supply management won't work?

What other options are out there...the news is getting worse each day.

This is a north america issue...I saw Big Sky in SK is asking for creditor protection and in the US big players like Coharie Farms and Coastal Plains have filed for bankruptcy....

▶ Reply to Discussion

RSS

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

Canada’s Minister of AI and Digital Innovation visits EMILI’s Innovation Farms

The Honourable Evan Solomon, Canada’s Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation visited EMILI’s Innovation Farms to discuss AI innovation and get a firsthand look at the important work taking place to advance agtech in Manitoba. “This week in Winnipeg was about practical AI and Manitoba’s place in Canada’s innovation economy,” he said in a post on LinkedIn after the event. “I visited Manitoba Innovates and EMILI Innovation Farms to see how Manitoba is supporting startups, agtech and real-world technology adoption.” EMILI is very proud of the work taking place in Manitoba to drive agriculture innovation, and how the impact is stretching across Canada with the recent launch of the AIVA Network which EMILI is a co-founder of. It was an honour to share details and answer questions about 30+ projects being tested and demonstrated on EMILI’s Innovation Farms this season, including Verge Ag, Cellar Insights, Agi3, Geco Strategic Weed Management, Miraterra, GrainFox, and mor

This is Agriculture: Customer success sales and marketing lead

After entering university to play volleyball, Courtney Kowk found her way into the agriculture program and continued her studies with a masters degree in agricultural economics. While her work experience started during university, her connection to agriculture began with a love for animals and a connection to her grandparents in Saskatchewan. She continued into a role at Cellar Insights, which allowed her to work closely with producer-focused innovation. Where did you grow up? Was it an agriculture or urban environment? I grew up in East St. Paul, a small municipality just outside of Winnipeg. It wasn’t a farming community, but it also wasn’t fully urban, so I got a bit of both worlds growing up. What was your dream job when you were a kid? Thinking back, I don’t know if I ever really had a dream job. I don’t think I spent much time thinking about growing up or being an adult, I was pretty happy just being a kid and not having to worry about those responsibilities yet. At one point

Insurance companies slammed with hail damage claims from summer storms

Member companies of the Canadian Crop Hail Association (CCHA) say they're processing more than 2,000 claims of crop damage across the Prairies. Members of the Canadian Crop Hail Association include Co-operative Hail Insurance Company, Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation, Palliser Insurance Company Ltd, Saskatchewan Municipal Hail Insurance and Rain and Hail Insurance Services. The claims stem from storms that occurred June 22nd to July 5th. During that time, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba were hit with hail from golf-ball size to baseball size, along with wind and large amounts of rain. President of CCHA Tyson Ryhorchuk says a large area of Saskatchewan was hit by consecutive days of hail. "Alberta and Manitoba are also fairly heavy, especially in southwest Manitoba," said Ryhorchuk. "But there was that large storm that everyone's been hearing about that stretched basically from Calgary all the way down to Swift Current that had a pretty big swath of hail that came thro

Unity's Field of Dreams gets boost from BASF’s Field of Purpose

The Cardinal Diamond Revitalization Project will soon be transitioning into its third year of work, and this year the project received some help from BASF. For the past few years, the committee has had the opportunity to fund the project alongside the North West Terminal, with the sale of the grain being used to pay for the diamond renovations. Several farmers in the area have continued to help with these fundraising efforts following the sale of the local grain terminal, and committee president Cory Wildeman said the group learned about the Field of Purpose program after approaching BASF rep Layna Levorson for a donation of crop protection chemicals. The revitalization project received enough Sphaerex fungicide and Voraxor pre-seed to support 240 acres of soft white spring wheat through the BASF program, which has been operating under the Field of Purpose name for the past two years. Tabetha Boot, head of Communications & Industry Relations at BASF, said the company tries to support

New-Crop Soy Production Up, But Ending Stocks Steady

U.S. soybean ending stocks for 2026–27 were left unchanged in the USDA’s July supply and demand report on Friday, even after a larger planted area raised the expected size of the new-crop harvest. The USDA maintained its new-crop carryout forecast at 310 million bu, unchanged from June and well below the average pre-report trade expectation of roughly 332 million. New-crop soybean production was increased by 40 million bu to 4.475 billion, reflecting a 700,000-acre increase in planted area to 85.4 million acres. Harvested area was also raised by 700,000 acres to 84.4 million, while the national yield forecast remained unchanged at 53 bu/acre. However, the larger crop did not translate into an equal increase in total supply. Beginning stocks were lowered by 10 million bushels to 330 million, leaving total 2026–27 supplies up a net 30 million bushels at 4.83 billion. Meanwhile, the USDA also raised projected soybean exports by 30 million bu to 1.66 billion, citing increased supp

© 2026   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service