Help Save the Pork Industry...Sign our petition.

[curran]

Help Save the Pork Industry.

Please find below a petition initiated by East Man Feeds of Winnipeg. They will be launching it online to various committees, organizations and industry groups to help bring attention to the plight of Canadian Pork Producers and OPIC is forwarding it for your information.

They invite everyone to participate and send it on to as many people as possible as a voice advocating for change.

http://www.petitiononline.com/canpork/petition.html



Thanks and regards,
Kelly Godlien
BA-Bus., BA-Econ, MBA (Hons)
Special Analyst
East-Man Feeds

East Man Feeds (WPG) 715 Marion St., Winnipeg, Manitoba R2J 0K6 (P)
204.233.1112 (F) 204.233.7245 www.eastmanfeeds.com

[dalek]

I feel for some of the pork producers who are hurting. But as long as the first thing pork producers do is complain about grain producers finally getting a decent (and short-lived) price for OUR product after years of a large part of the pork industry depending on grain farmers supplying feed at below COP (and a lot of those pork producers laughing about it every chance they got), I won't be signing.

There's no doubt the price for the live product is way out of whack. However, the pork industry in Canada expanded way beyond reason because of 1. the low dollar and 2. low feed prices (remember all those pork producers laughing "Why would I grow my own feed when I can buy it cheaper than I can produce it?") Now it's time for more contraction. Hopefully it can be cushioned as much as possible.

[bluefargo]

I'm with you on this one dalek. I attended a lot of meetings back in the '90s and early 2000's. Time and time again the promoters of the hog industry went on about what a wonderful place Sask was to produce hogs because of all the cheep feed here. Over and over again - cheap feed , cheap feed . As the guy producing all this cheap feed I use to slump down in my chair and leave depressed.
Last year was great. To actually be paid a decent price for our product was so refreshing.
I do have some sympathy for hog producers although there are very few smaller producers left. In Sask. its mainly Hutterite colonies and Big Sky (owned by the government). The Hutterites are very diversified and will survive.
The point here is for any industry - don't piss off your neighbours. You may need their support some day!

[coppertop]

I remember not too long ago the Alberta
Government was pushing the growth of the
livestock industry, mainly hogs. Now I
imagine there will be a huge number of
vacant hog barns in Alberta and across the
country as these farmers take the federal
buy out and get out of the industry.