4 The Business of Canadian Hog Farming Better Pork | February 2024 national pork HEADLINES SASK PORK BOARD WELCOMES TWO NEW MEMBERS Sask Pork recently announced its board of directors for the 2023 to 2025 term, including two new members. At the association’s annual general meeting in November, it was stated that the board has been acclaimed in October. The board consists of John Beckton from Brock Stock Farm, Jason Hofer from Spring Lake Farming, Dickson Gould from The Progressive Group of Companies, Daryl Possberg from Polar Pork Farms, Toby Tschetter from Star City Farming, and Darrin Duell from Olymel. Casey Smit and Jay McGrath left their positions on the board for the 2023 to 2025 term, making room for new members Duell and Possberg to join. From the board, Tschetter was elected to remain chair, Possberg was elected as the new vice-chair, and Beckton was re-elected as audit chair. “I’m looking forward to working alongside these members to build on what we’ve already accomplished and push forward on new and exciting ventures that will have positive impacts on the pork industry,” said Sask Pork general manager Mark Ferguson in a recent release. “We’d also like to extend our gratitude to Casey Smit and Jay McGrath for their hard work and contribution to the industry as Sask Pork board members.” The annual general meeting was held immediately after the Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium, which ran from Nov. 7 to 8. The event showcased research from the pork industry, and had speakers on topics including market updates, labour retention, cybersecurity, energy efficiency in barns, and sharing farm stories with consumers. The 47th annual Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium will be held on Nov. 4 and 5, 2024. BP Recent research from the University of Copenhagen has developed a “methane cleaner” that could be used in hog barns. Methane (CH4) production from livestock rearing systems has been a growing concern for the environment. Manure storage on pig farms is one source of methane that greenhouse gas reduction efforts can target. The research team from the University of Copenhagen, led by atmospheric chemistry professor Dr. Matthew Stanley Johnson, has created a reaction chamber using light and chlorine to manage methane in the air at low concentrations. “A large part of our methane emissions comes from millions of low-concentration point sources like cattle and pig barns. In practice, methane from these sources has been impossible to concentrate into higher levels or remove. “But our new result proves that it is possible using the reaction chamber that we have built,” said Johnson in recent a statement from the university’s Faculty of Science. Previous methane removal strategies have been able to burn off the gas at concentrations exceeding four per cent. However, this is significantly higher than methane concentrations found in livestock barns, which are often less than 0.1 per cent. The reaction chamber utilizes a chain reaction to break down methane and remove it from the air. The results demonstrate that chlorine is a key part of this reaction. The chlorine and the energy from the UV light increases the efficiency of gas removal. The university plans to use a 40foot shipping container to build a prototype for a farm-scale reaction chamber that could be connected to a barn ventilation system. “Today’s livestock farms are high-tech facilities where ammonia is already removed from air. As such, removing methane through existing air purification systems is an obvious solution,” said Johnson. The research has just been published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. BP NEW TECH TO REMOVE CH4 IN BARNS Jodie Aldred photo
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