Behind the Lines - April 2009 Sunday, April 5, 2009 Quebec's ASRA (Assurance Stabilisation du Revenu Agricole) has long been the envy of pork producers in Ontario and elsewhere.For various reasons, language being one and the united public front put forward by the Union des Producteurs Agricole another; parts of the program have been a mystery for most Ontario Producers. ASRA is also coming under increasing attack within Quebec because it's long been considered too rich for the government to continue supporting.This past winter The Fraser Institute, a right wing think tank based in British Columbia, reported that Quebec producers were guaranteed $163.77 for a hog that brought less than $120 in the marketplace in 2008, and another program gave $182 million to the piglet-producing industry. Over two years, subsidies were estimated to total more than $1.1 billion.Talking about billions of dollars, however, still doesn't put a face on the pork producing situation in Quebec. That's something our writer Suzanne Deutsch has managed nicely. Her story, beginning on page 6, personalizes the challenges facing Quebec's pork producers, many of who express disillusionment because they are as indebted as any farmers in Canada, in spite of the rich payouts from ASRA. As we were going to press, we learned that Quebec is making some changes that may be unprecedented. Producers there will be partnering with processors to fund development of new pork products. We will have more on that as details become available.Quebec's pork board, La Fédération des producteurs de porcs du Québec says the province has 3,900 producers producing 7.5 million pigs. In contrast, Ontario Pork's website says we have 2,800 producers, producing about 5.3 million hogs. It's been a while since Ontario's industry was larger than Quebec's.It's hard to overlook the irony that Ontario's far older single desk selling capability is being dismantled at the same time as Quebec is proudly celebrating the 20th anniversary of its single desk system. As we went to press, the Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal granted producers Rein Minnema, Fields Farms Ltd., Huron County Pork Producers Association and Ontario Pork Districts 10, 11 and 12 status to appeal the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission ruling last October taking away Ontario Pork's long standing powers as a single desk agency. You can stay up to date on the future of Ontario Pork at www.betterfarming.comOne thing producers in both Quebec and Ontario have in common is a general reliance on corn and soybean based rations. In fact Janice Murphy's column on page 33 in this issue shows just how far we've come with our feeding programs in the past century. Can you believe that a century ago soybeans were used for green manure and were so rare that they weren't included in the 1910 U.S. crop census? ROBERT IRWIN Cover Story: Quebec Pork Producers Seems Temple likes farrowing crates after all
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Kubota Connect 2025 Monday, September 29, 2025 Today Farms.com is joining hundreds of Kubota dealers, managers, and industry leaders at Kubota Connect 2025, set for September 29–30 at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas. What’s on the agenda? The Product & Solutions Hub will have plenty of horsepower on display. Stay... Read this article online
Ag in the House: Sept. 22 – 26 Monday, September 29, 2025 A Conservative MP wanted answers about an ag issue in B.C. during last week’s question period. On Sept. 24, Mel Arnold, the Conservative MP for Kamloops-Shuswap-Central Rockies, asked the government to provide clarity on the situation regarding a possible cull of 400 ostriches at... Read this article online
Cheap Argentine Soybeans Pressure U.S. Export Sales and Rattle Markets Monday, September 29, 2025 On the weekly , Farms.com Risk Management Commodity Strategist Abhinesh Gopal reviewed the major market moves for the week of September 22 to 26, 2025. Grain markets were shaken this week and closed mostly lower says Gopal. Corn slipped about two cents, soybeans dropped twelve cents,... Read this article online