Quebec aims to cut a million hogs
Quebec is planning to cut hog production by a million hogs per year through a buy-out program.
It would be a joint venture of governments and the marketing board.
And if it does not elicit enough voluntary participation, the marketing board might force production cuts.
The proposal would cost $80 million with producers sharing some of the cost through a levy of $2.86 per hog. The program would be part of the long-term federal-provincial-producer income stabilization policy which has become unaffordable at recent market conditions.
Olymel, the province’s main hog packing business that is owned by farmers, has sustained heavy losses in the last several years, has closed some plants and will close one of its big slaughter plants in December and will trim purchases from 140,000 to 80,000 hogs per week.
It stopped buying hogs from Ontario early this year, leaving them searching for buyers as far as Brandon, Man., and deeper into the United States.
Ontario has also been shipping a significant percentage of piglets to the United States, losing the economic opportunity to feed them to market weight and to slaughter and process the pork in Ontario.
There is an effort underway to raise support from Ontario hog farmers to build another slaughter plant. A group of Ontario hog producers bought a slaughter plant, named in Conestoga Meat Packers, and have steadily expanded capacity; it has purchased adjacent land so it can expand again when the producer-owners are ready.
