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
Kody Blois appointed minister of agriculture in Carney’s cabinet Friday, March 14, 2025 Canada has a new minister of agriculture and rural economic development. Kody Blois, the Nova Scotia MP from Kings-Hants, received the appointment from new Prime Minister Mark Carney and was sworn in on March 14. Blois takes the ag portfolio from Lawrence MacAulay, who recently... Read this article online
Chinese Tariffs Are Squeezing Canadian Grain and Oilseeds Friday, March 14, 2025 By Aleah Harle, Farms.com Risk Management Intern On March 8, 2025, China announced steep retaliatory tariffs on $2.6 billion worth of Canadian agricultural products in response to Canada’s October tariffs of 100% on Chinese EVs, and 25% on steel, and aluminum. These newly... Read this article online
Bayer introduces Vyconic soybeans in Canada Friday, March 14, 2025 Bayer is bringing a new soybean variety to Canadian farmers. Vyconic soybeans is a new trait technology providing growers with tolerance to multiple herbicide active ingredients. “It’s the industry’s first soybean trait to have herbicide tolerance to five different herbicides,” David... Read this article online
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Canada commits over $500 million to protect hog producers from African Swine Fever threat Thursday, March 13, 2025 The Canadian government is taking significant steps to protect rural communities and the pork industry from the threat of African Swine Fever (ASF). Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Lawrence MacAulay, revealed a funding commitment of up to $567.16 million to support... Read this article online