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
CFA shows support for the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday, October 21, 2025 The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) is showing its support for the Toronto Blue Jays as they welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday to start the World Series. “Congratulations to the @BlueJays on last night’s big win!” the CFA said on X on Oct. 21. “Canada’s team is on fire and... Read this article online
CGC issues grain dealer license to AgroHall Foods Ltd. Tuesday, October 21, 2025 The Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) issued a new license last week. AgroHall Foods Ltd./ Les aliments AgroHall Ltée in Regina, Sask., received a grain dealer license on Oct. 17, the CGC’s website says. The Sask. location is at 1881 Scarth St., Suite 1500, the Moose Jaw & District... Read this article online
Remembering Ralph Winfield: Beloved Better Farming Columnist Tuesday, October 21, 2025 Ontario's farming community is mourning the loss of longtime agricultural writerRalph Gordon Winfieldof Glanworth, who passed away peacefully at St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital on Oct. 17, 2025, at the age of 85. Ralph’s name has been closely tied to Better Farming since 1999. His... Read this article online
October ag minister roundup Monday, October 20, 2025 Farms.com is again scouring social media and online activity to see what Canada’s ministers of agriculture are doing to support farmers and the industry overall. Beginning with federal Minister Heath MacDonald, he and some of his provincial counterparts recently returned from four days of... Read this article online
Out of Feed, Out of Luck: The Real Cost of Feed Delivery Failures in Swine Operations By Casey L. Bradley, Ph.D. – Animistic Monday, October 20, 2025 From Science to the Barn: What We Know About Feed Gaps Whether you’re managing a 2,400-head finishing barn or a 6,000-sow farrow-to-wean, the assumption is that if the bin has feed, the pigs are eating. But what if they’re not? Feed outages—defined as either full-blown empty feeders or... Read this article online