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The Rural Voice, 1998-12, Page 6Pork price disaster could change rural communities Farming is certainly an exciting occupation and not recommended for the faint of heart. The 1998 growing season once again proved this. It started out early with warm, dry weather, then a late frost, then more dry weather mixed with occasional rain in some areas and more dry weather in other areas that rendered some expensive herbicides less than effective and gave many farmers a reason to re-evaluate their cropping practices. Some crops flourished with occasional rains while others shriveled. My own area did finally get a nice rain in August that likely helped the corn bushel weight but gave the weeds in some soybean fields an even bigger boost. The harvest season was much earlier than normal years. The yields and quality in many cases were better than expected, bit some were disastrous. With all this excitement in the fields it was difficult to notice what was going on with the pig prices. However, this is even more exciting. On June 22, a 235 -pound finished pig indexing 109 was worth $157.45. After the crops were harvested, if the same hog was sold on November 6, it would be worth $65.69. (This included a 20 per cent drop in the previous week.) A farmer finishing pigs would have paid about $50 for the weaner pigs and spent $50 worth of feed on it. That doesn't count hydro, interest, insurance, veterinary expense, building and equipment repairs, trucking, board fees, grading fees and GST. (I hope I didn't miss anybody.) At the grocery store, pork 2 THE RURAL VOICE Feedback products are selling for the same price in November as in June! As a matter of fact, today the dressed carcass price is 71 cents per kg. whereas in the store bacon is $7.18 per kg., loin roast is $11 per kg., even shoulder roast is $4.39 per kg. I don't work in the packing industry or the retail industry but I can tell that these numbers don't add up. A friend that does work in the retail area tells me that there will probably be more "specials" on pork and these will be better bargains. The abattoir that I deal with says pork halves, cut, wrapped and frozen, could get down to $1.87 per kg. The message here is that consumers should watch for these bargains and fill up their freezers. Meanwhile back at the farm, things are almost as erratic as the rain this summer. Some pig farmers arc losing a lot of money and some arc just losing some money. A lot of pig farmers the last few years have followed the advice of the experts (most of whom don't have a cent invested, and get paid no matter how wrong they are), who told them to expand and supply the world with pork. It turns out the world can't afford all this pork, and right now these farmers are in a lot of trouble. Some people reading this will say it serves them right for being so greedy, and in some cases they may be right. However in a lot of cases those pig farmers are the hard working, honest people that you may see at the hockey arena helping coach your kids, or sitting on your local council or doing volunteer work for a local service club. They have families to support and bills to pay (lots of them). They are involved in an industry that is being manipulated more and more by forces that see the farmers and their hard work as a potential source of profit for themselves. In the U.S.A. these types of people have managed to make many farmers almost like slave labour running contract barns. Depending on how long this price slump lasts, these pig farmers are going to need some help. The forecasters are suggesting at least six months of these prices. One producer suggested that a month of these prices would put him in a big enough hole, that it would take a year of good prices to get out of that hole. Six months would take him six years. Meanwhile he can look at the more militant competition over in Quebec where they are reportedly guaranteed a floor price of $1.55. That's a lot better than 71 cents was (or even lower). My biggest concern is that if these pig farmers are allowed to disappear or to be taken over by large corporations such as feed companies or foreign integrators, then the local rural communities will change drastically, for the worse.0 Dave Linton R.R.2, Blyth The Rural Voice welcomes your letters on issues of interest to agriculture and rural life CANADIAN CO-OPERATIVE WOOL GROWERS LIMITED Now Available WOOL ADVANCE PAYMENTS 300 per pound * Skirted Fleeces * Well -Packed Sacks For more information contact: WINGHAM WOOL DEPOT John Farrell R.R. 2, Wingham, Ontario Phone/Fax 519-357-1058