Coverage of producer rally
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Hog producers to get cash help
But advances may come too late for some
Financially strapped Manitoba hog producers will qualify for federal-provincial cash advances totalling $37.7 million in the coming weeks, Agriculture Minister Rosann Wowchuk said Tuesday.
But the head of the Manitoba Pork Council, which lobbies on behalf of hog producers, questioned how much good that will do for what he called an industry in "crisis."
Wowchuk said the two levels of government agreed late Monday to advance payments under the federal-provincial AgriStability farm income support program.
Hog producers should see cash from the program paid to them later this summer instead of having to wait until sometime in 2010, she said.
But pork council president Karl Kynoch said Tuesday the program is flawed and will likely fail to adequately assist many farmers.
"That $37 million will help out some of the producers, but still it's going to be two months before they get it. That's too long," the Baldur hog farmer said. "We have a cash liquidity problem. We have to get cash into producers' hands now," he said, adding farmers are going out of business "every week."
"Our industry is in an absolute critical state that is on the verge of collapse," Jurgen Preugschas, chairman of the Canadian Pork Council echoed Tuesday. "The losses are just adding up and the sustainability of our industry as we know it is in major jeopardy."
Manitoba is one of the largest producers in a national industry that's been bleeding red ink for going on three years. In that time, hog farmers have suffered due to currency fluctuations, a doubling of feed grain prices and adverse American food labelling laws.
But the knock-out punch for many was the North American outbreak of H1N1 influenza, referred to by many as the "swine flu." That led to several overseas pork customers closing their borders to Canadian and American suppliers, which has in turn eroded prices.
"What really, really pushed us over the edge here this summer is this H1N1 being misnamed," said Kynoch.
He estimated the fallout from H1N1 alone has cost Manitoba producers between $3 million and $4 million a week.
Before that, hog producers were actually looking forward this summer to their first profits in a couple of years. But those hopes have been dashed.
Local producers have begged the province for direct aid and have helped lead a national push for a federal bailout in the order of $800 million to $1 billion. Manitoba would have qualified for some $200 million of that because of the size of its industry.
But so far, they've been turned down.
The industry staged a rally in Morris Monday evening that it estimates drew between 500 and 600 farmers, hog farm employees, suppliers, lenders and politicians.
Kynoch said he's disappointed no one from the Doer government attended. Several Tory MLAs, including party leader Hugh McFadyen, showed up, as did the federal Liberal agriculture critic, Wayne Easter from Prince Edward Island.
"Everybody except the NDP (attended)," Kynoch said.
Provincial hog producers want Manitoba to match a Saskatchewan program in which producers received $20 per market hog and $10 per weanling pig sold. Alberta, Ontario and Quebec have also offered direct aid to their producers.
But Manitoba has refused, citing possible trade sanctions from the United States, Kynoch said.
Although she didn't attend the Morris rally, Wowchuk spoke with Kynoch on the telephone twice on Monday, including late in the day to tell him of the $37.7 million in advance payments.
Wowchuk said farmers will be getting notices in the next couple of weeks telling them how much money they will be qualified to receive. All they have to do is "check a box" on a form and return it to receive their advance, she said.
She said she's also offered to discuss other ways in which the province can assist hog producers.
"This is an important industry, and we want to be sure that there's cash to help them through this difficult time," Wowchuk said.
-- with files from The Canadian Press
larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
Hog farmers say situation critical, rally for government support
Major Hutterite operations shutting down, CBC learns
Manitoba pork producers have told government officials their industry is in crisis and that nearly one-third of pig farmers have gone out of business in the past two years.
"It's by far the worst that our industry has ever seen in Canada," Jurgen Preugchas, chair of the Canadian Pork Council, told CBC News. He said the industry generates almost $8 billion in economic activity in Canada each year.
"It's a lot of money. And if we let that go under in a time like this when jobs are hard to come by, another 42,000 unemployed wouldn't look very good," he said.
The combination of low hog prices, fluctuating currency exchange rates, high input costs, and an erroneous perception that swine flu is somehow related to pork has left the industry on its knees.
"Nothing has ever come close to what we are seeing today," he said. "I mean we're going through nearly 36 months of consecutive losses and it's very difficult for our industry."
As 500 pork farmers met with government officials in Morris, Preugchas noted that 30 per cent of producers have left the industry in the last two years alone.
CBC News has learned that several large pork operations across Manitoba are being forced to shut down.
Major hog operations on several Manitoba Hutterite Colonies are being closed.
At the Oakbluff Colony, treasurer Jack Maendel said closing the barn, which houses 1,500 hogs, was the only option.
"That means we stop bleeding," he said. "Years ago, if you shut the barn down, you stopped an income. Now, you shut the barn down, you stop the flow of money going out."
At the Starlite Hutterite Colony, head of barn operations James Hofer said recent struggles in the hog business have meant big changes in the community.
"You can't expect to live at the same level you did when essentially half your income is gone," he said.
Maendel said the public doesn't need to worry about the future viability of the Hutterite colonies, but he said smaller independent operations are being economically devastated.
"We can't overemphasize how much it hurts," said Maendel. "But at the same time, it's not fair to just look at the colonies; it's every hog farmer."
One of those independent producers is Manitoba farmer Doug Redekop. He said some of his neighbours are just weeks away from losing their farms, investments and homes.
Manitoba hog farmer Stan Siemens said he has already lost $2 million and is trying to get rid of his hogs so that he can avoid further debt.
"We're losing money," Siemens said. "The longer we keep [the hogs] the more we lose. We're taking big losses by selling them now but at least we'll stop losing then. Once [the barn] is empty we'll stop losing money."
Federal Liberals at the meeting said government must come to the aid of the industry. The Harper government has said it assessing the issue. The Canadian Pork Council is banking on a meeting with federal officials in July that it hopes will offer some short-term hope for producers.
Manitoba government officials were not at the meeting.
--from www.cbc.ca