Fostering the sustainability and prosperity of the pork industry for hog farmers and all Manitobans

Manitoba Pork Council presents 2009 Pork Industry Awards

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

April 8, 2009 (Winnipeg, MB) – Manitoba Pork Council (MPC) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 Pork Industry Awards.

The Pork Industry Awards, formerly known as the Swine Stewardship Awards, recognize excellence in Manitoba’s hog industry. The awards are presented to individuals, groups and organizations that have made significant contributions to the industry.

The following three awards were presented as part of MPC’s annual general meeting in Winnipeg yesterday:

(A backgrounder with more detailed information follows.)

• EDUCATION AWARD – Dr. Karin Wittenberg, of the University of Manitoba Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, received this award in recognition of outstanding contributions to the hog industry through her tireless efforts to make research accessible and meaningful for all.

• FRIEND OF THE INDUSTRY AWARD – Farm Credit Canada received this award in recognition of 50 years of outstanding contributions to the hog industry through the financial support of Manitoba’s hog farmers and investment in their communities.

• INNOVATION AWARD – David Rourke, owner of Hog Hill Farms in Minto, received this award in recognition of outstanding contributions to the hog industry in pioneering a strong integrated farming model and developing new varieties of feed wheat for the benefit of all producers.

“When producers across Manitoba are facing difficult times, it’s important to keep in mind that good things are still happening,” says Karl Kynoch, MPC chairman. “The folks we celebrate with these awards are making very important contributions to our industry.”

MPC represents the province’s 900 hog producers, who focus every day on caring for their animals, producing quality pork and protecting the environment.

For more information, contact:

Kelly Funke, Senior Communications Co-ordinator

(204) 235-2303 / (204) 791-6395

Background – 2009 Pork Industry Award recipients

Education is Dr. Karin Wittenberg’s job and her passion. She holds a PhD in ruminant nutrition, and maintains her own research program in the area of grassland management and environment.She has developed the research tools for some of the first greenhouse gas work generating information relevant to Canadian production systems.

Most recently Dr. Wittenberg has been instrumental in establishing the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment (NCLE) at the University of Manitoba’s Glenlea Research Station. NCLE has brought animal and plant scientists together with microbiologists, engineers and food scientists to identify food production strategies that are ecologically and economically sound in the longer term.

Even more exciting in terms of education is the next component at Glenlea – the Glenlea Farm Education Centre. Dr. Wittenberg is leading the charge to make the centre a reality. When it comes to life, it will use interactive displays and programming to deliver messages about agriculture to the public – and as part of that folks will get a chance to see working hog barns in action from right inside the centre. The U of M expects to break ground on the education centre this summer.

Farm Credit Canada (FCC) began offering loans to Canadian farmers in 1959 with just one loan product and one interest rate. Today, it is the leading provider of financing and business services to farms and agribusiness with a range of loans and terms available and more than 80,000 customers.

FCC has maintained its focus on agriculture and adapted throughout the last 50 years to the needs of farmers of all stripes. It has expanded its line of loan programs, its eligibility guidelines, and moved its head office from Ottawa to Regina. In 2005 it added online services to make it easier to do business at “farmers’ hours.”

To add to its record of supporting rural communities, FCC is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year by making $1 million available through the Agri-Spirit Fund. Community improvement projects such as emergency services equipment, playgrounds, food banks and recreation centres will be eligible for grants from $5,000 to $25,000 through the fund.

Originally a city boy, David Rourke moved to the farm in the community where his grandfather settled and started making strides. Today he runs a 5,000-acre grain farm and finishes 14,000 pigs in straw-bedded hoop barns.

Rourke is considered an innovator because of the integrated approach he has taken on the farm. He built an ethanol plant, which converts the wheat he produces into fuel. He uses the dried distillers grains which are a byproduct of ethanol production, to feed the pigs. Then he uses the pig manure to fertilize the fields where he grows more feed wheat.

Rourke is also at work on developing improved varieties of high-yielding, fusarium-resistant, high-starch feed wheat through the Western Feed Grain Development Co-op Ltd., which he created with a group of likeminded farmers. He created Ag-Quest, which does small-plot research under contract at five stations across western Canada. Together, these enterprises employ about 80 people.