The Rural Voice, 1980-02, Page 40Perth Counfy Pork Producers
Farrell predicts financial squeeze
Doug Farrell, vice-president of the
Ontario Pork Producers Marketing Board,
told members of the Perth County Pork
Producers at their annual meeting that
producers aren't scaling down their
expansion plans as they have in traditional
cycles.
The result, according to the Hastings
County pork producer, is that "we're going
to see some very volatile markets" in the
future.
Mr. Farrell said 10.9 million hogs were
sent to market in Canada in 1979 -the
largest number in the history of the
industry. He said last year, producers
raised 10 to 16 percent more pork than they
did in 1971, the last time production was at
an all-time high.
He said producers may find themselves
"in a financial squeeze" in the future, due
not only to increased pork production but
also to the steep increase in feed and
energy costs.
Mr. Farrell told producers farmers are
also finding themselves increasingly
influenced by outside events "which seem
far removed from our own little business."
He referred to the current situation in
Afghanistan and the U.S. embargo on
grain shipments to Russia.
Mr. Farrell also reported that Canada
has dropped behind the United States and
Denmark in exporting pork to Japan. In
1978, Canada topped the other two
countries in sales to the Japanese market.
The speaker said the Japanese now seem
to prefer the lighter Danish pork to the
Canadian product. Also, he explained_
Japanese pork production is steadily
increasing, cutting the market for imported
pork, and consumer demand for the
product is dropping.
Later, in response to questions from the
audience, Mr. Farrell said the Ontario Pork
Producers Marketing Board recently
suspended contracts with the Japan ese
company they were dealing with, to
prevent the company from going bankrupt.
He said anyway, the Japanese government
has requested that all pork imports into the
country be halted for now.
Mr. Farrell told the audience he feels "all
producers must make concerted efforts to
find new markets (for pork) both
domestically and abroad." He said
producers can't keep increasing their
production at 10, 15 and even 20 percent
and "still have a healthy industry."
One way to do this, Mr. Farrell said, is
for producers to secure a larger share of
the restaurant and institutional business.
He defended the board's decision to create
two restaurants featuring pork in the
Toronto area. He said it was important that
the Pork Place, the more expensive of the
two restaurants, located in downtown
Toronto near the Royal Alexandra Theatre,
be "extremely visible" to the public. He
said he thought the restaurant idea was a
"bold and imaginative route" on the
board's part to promote their product.
He said the board eventually hopes to go
the franchise route with the restaurants,
although it must be recognized this is "a
high risk business." He said the
restaurants have proved an effective
means of increasing demand for pork, both
for itself and by showing how it can be
used.
Following Mr. Farrell's speech, one
audience member critcized the restaurant
move, saying the board should "stay out
of the restaurant business and stick to the
pork business."
Mr. Farrell said with the current cycle
facing pork producers, this is when they
may envy marketing boards which practise
supply management (quotas). He said
producers are "now in the blame season."
The pork producer said the problem is one
of over -production and all producers must
cut back. Mr. Farrell said he knows this
won't happen so some producers will have
to go broke or else go out of pork
production.
The speaker also outlined the reasons
some producers may be receiving delayed
payments for the hogs they ship.
He said there were
lengthy delays in payments from the J.M.
schneider Company, since they were
experiencing computer problems. Also, he
said a growing number of manifests sent
with the hogs to killing plants are filled out
improperly or else hogs have been poorly
tattooed, or else sometimes double -
tattooed by truckers.
Also, he told the audience hogs aren't
coming to the killing floor as clean as they
used to, so the tattooing needles may be
(Continued on page 32)
Interested in information meetings?
1. Perth County Agricultural Week, Stratford Fairgrounds, Feb.
12-15. The Pork Day Program on Thursday, Feb. 14 will feature
discussions on pork production in the 80's. Dr. Roger Hacker,
Associate Professor, Dept. of Animal Science, University of
Guelph will speak on technological development, and Perth
County Ag. Rep. Alan Scott will discuss economics. There will be
a question period. Meeting starts at 1:30. The Ladies Program
will feature a discussion on fruits for the home garden.
2. CANFARM offers a record keeping system for sow herds.
The computerized system is designed to make life easy for
Farmers who want to keep complete records on the performance
of their Breeding stock. This service can be had independently
from other records. Information available from: Canfarm
Co-operative Services, P.O. Box 1024, Guelph Ont. NIH 6N1 or
Peter Mason, Area Rep. 291-1421, Listowel.
3. The Swine Improvement Committee in co-operation with
OMAF will try to organize information meetings on specific
subjects relating to pork production, whenever there is sufficient
interest in such a meeting. In the past,. these informa 1 meetings
PG. 38 THE RURAL VOICE/FEBRUARY 1980
with about 12-20 people in attendance have been quite popular
allowing maximum time for questions, discussions and exchange
of ideas. Anybody interested please fill out questionaire and
send to: Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, 413 Hibernia
St. Stratford, Ont., N5A 5W2.
Name:
Address.
Phone:
Check subjects of interest
Nutrition
Health
Sow Herd Management
Feeder Pig Management
Building Design
Ventilation
Manure Handling
Others: