Cover Story

Sidebar: Aliments LucyPorc wins the EU race

For a long time, the Canadian pork industry thought that Les Viandes duBreton would be the first Canadian packer to breach the European Union trade wall. But in late winter, another Quebec company, Aliments Lucyporc, with a plant in Yamachiche, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, cracked the wall first.

Independently owned Lucyporc was formerly owned by Maple Leaf, says Martin Rice, executive director, Canadian Pork Council, which manages the Canadian Quality Assurance (CQA) program for pork. A company press release issued March 2 says that “specialized Nagano hogs” are raised on “only two CQA Certified family farms” from known specialized genetics – Landrace/Large White X Nagano Duroc – and fed a special meat and bone meal-free diet.

Cover Story: Genetiporc gears up its Humane Pork program for the European market

Though the premium for Humane Pork has narrowed, and the company has a challenge in developing markets for processed products, hams, bacon and sausage, it predicts a bright future for this niche market and already has 160 Ontario producers signed up

by DON STONEMAN

Genetics provider Genetiporc and sister company Les Viandes duBreton Inc., headquartered in St-Bernard, Que., are poised for a foray into European Union markets and want to bring Ontario producers along.

Cover Story: BATCH FARROWING - One way to reduce disease and manage your workload

More Ontario producers are turning to the batch system to help them improve their time management, concentrate the work on a few days a week and better control disease in the barn

by KATE PROCTER

Batch farrowing is catching on with Ontario producers. It can give smaller producers an opportunity to enjoy some of the advantages of a larger herd, while still maintaining the benefits of staying small. But there are also advantages for both health and labour.

Batch farrowing differs from a continuous flow system in that it concentrates the breeding and farrowing of sows into groups. Producers can choose two-, three-, four- or five-week batches depending on the goals and objectives in their herd.

Sidebar 2: How ASRA is calculated

“Quebec’s income stabilisation program is a combination of AgriStability and ASRA,” says Alain Pouliot, vice-president in charge of the ASRA program at La Financière Agricole du Québec. “The AgriStability program covers two thirds of losses and is funded by both levels of government. The ASRA program is the last program to intervene and it is funded one third by producers and two thirds by the Quebec government.”

Sidebar 1: Quebec agriculture – a history of intervention

The reason why Quebec intervenes to the extent it does in agriculture is deeply rooted in history, says Daniel-Mercier Gouin, professor of agro-economy at Université Laval. “For good or bad, whether it has chosen to use the right tool or not, the province decided to encourage agriculture as a prime economic activity.”

In return, farmers have always tended to turn to the provincial government for all agriculture related matters. They do so using one very powerful voice, the Union des Producteurs Agricole (UPA), a producer’s union with mandatory dues for all farmers, but for which 94 per cent of farmers belong to on a voluntary basis.

Cover Story: QUEBEC PORK PRODUCERS

Burdened with debt and an unsustainable safety net Quebec farmers have the highest debt load in Canada and their provincial support program is facing a $780-million deficit. Reforms are on the way, but a number of producers will likely go under

by SUZANNE DEUTSCH

Quebec’s farm support programs may be generous by Canadian standards but, despite a record $550 million payout in 2008, the hog sector in la Belle Province is still suffering. Payouts for this sector were significantly higher than those made to all other non-supply-management and crop commodity sectors combined.

Cover Story: Winning those small victories in the ongoing battle against PRRS

Eradicating PRRS completely seems like an impossible task, but it doesn’t have to be accomplished all at once. ‘If you can bite it into little chunks,’ says one operator, ‘it becomes manageable.’

by KATE PROCTER

After years of dealing with the disease, receiving a positive test result for Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) is not the kiss of death it once was. Several simple strategies exist that can make the virus easier to manage, while helping to reduce the risk for herds across Ontario.

Cover Story: THE KEY TO PREVENTING BARN FIRES

THE KEY TO PREVENTING BARN FIRES
Ventilation, ventilation, ventilation – and a $40 infrared measuring gun

With barn fires more prevalent in the pork industry than in other livestock sectors, insurers are stressing prevention and good management. At particular risk: new barns built within the last 10 years

By DON STONEMAN

Could a $40 infrared temperature measuring “gun” save your pig barn from a fire?
The president of Perth County Pork Producers thinks so.

Cover Story: Who should pay for trucking hogs to market?

That’s the question facing Ontario Pork – and by extension producers – as it assesses the costs and benefits of moving to FOB plant pricing

by DON STONEMAN

In the face of so many marketing issues, transporting pigs to market may seem the least of considerations for producers. Yet it is emblematic of the changes and challenges that they will confront as the industry moves toward more choice in selling hogs.

Pork producers market hogs together and critical service suppliers, such as graders and truckers, are part of the settlement system that is now being questioned – and to some degree is under attack– as producers seek more choice in marketing.

Cover Story - Niche Marketing: A venture still in its infancy for Ontario producers

Producers, packers and retailers are starting to respond to consumer demands for specialty pork. But the industry is still far from the potential 15 to 20 per cent of provincial pork production that industry experts believe could go to niche markets

by DON STONEMAN & MARY BAXTER

For old-order Amish and Mennonite farmers in western Ontario’s hog belt who still raise pigs like they did 50 years ago, there is a modern-day payoff.