Better Pork - December 2006

Behind The Lines

Maple Leaf Foods believes that it can’t make money producing as much pork as it does. That’s why it is getting out of the business in Ontario.

Chief Executive Officer Michael McCain says the decision comes after deciding what business it is in and what it is good at. Should this move prompt pork producers to perform a similar evaluation of their businesses?

Some observers of the Ontario situation see it as an industry out of balance. The Ontario pork industry produces way more early wean pigs than it has the capacity to finish. Where do they go? There are two customers - Quebec and the United States.

On top of that, even with Maple Leaf operating its Burlington plant, Ontario produces more finished pigs than it can slaughter - in the neighbourhood of 15,000 to 20,000 a week. Where do the extra slaughter pigs go? Again, to the United States and to Quebec. Quebec isn’t doing so well lately, as is noted in our cover story on the packing situation by Don Stoneman. (see Cover Story page 8).

The current uncertainty over where pigs will be slaughtered overshadows another related issue: accurate payment. In our Feature Article (see page 26) Kate Procter compares conventional carcass evaluation with ultrasonic grading. Packers insist the current system is adequate while one Manitoba researcher insists new ultrasonic technology is best for producers and will also help move the breeding stock sector forward.

Regardless of packer grading technology, back in the barn, producers still have to meet weight targets. Norman Dunn has filed a report on new German technology that provides weights of live pigs with digital imaging. (see Eye On Europe page 50).

Ontario Pork’s environmental specialist Sam Bradshaw looks again at what the Clean Water Act means to livestock producers in Ontario. This act is now law. While wording in the original bill has been altered to allow farmers to be compensated for changes they make to their operations, Bradshaw argues that the law is still punitive. Its effects on the livestock industry in Ontario remain to be seen. (see Herd Health page 45).

The environment has come to the forefront again in a neighbouring province. As Better Pork was going to press, the Manitoba government announced a freeze on pig barn construction in that province. Pork industry leaders there say the finger has been pointed directly at them for the increase in phosphorus flows into Lake Winnipeg in recent years. It remains to be seen if the anti-pork movement in Manitoba will spread to other provinces.

The ramifications will unfold in time. The end of the calendar year is near. It’s a time to reflect on the past 12 months and maybe it’s time for individual producers to decide, like Michael McCain, what business they are in and what they are good at. BP

Robert Irwin