Share this Story: Maple Leaf needs more hogs at Brandon
Maple Leaf needs more hogs at Brandon
Jun 03, 2014 • June 3, 2014 • 2 minute read
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. is shutting down operations for one day a week because it can't get enough hogs for its slaughtering plant at Brandon, Man.
It's been a longstanding issue in Manitoba, but the slowdown at Brandon is a first and is scheduled to last five months.
Karl Kynoch, chairman of the Manitoba Pork Council, says it has been trying for years to get new hog barns built, but government environmental restraints stand in the way.
"This temporary "brownout" is because of a lack of market hogs. This situation will not improve until producers build more barns to produce market hogs," says Karl Kynoch, Chair of Manitoba Pork Council (MPC).
Kynoch indicates producers will invest in new barns but the current environmental regulations are killing that investment opportunity. "We have better technologies that protect the environment, but are more cost effective for producers," says Kynoch.
"It has been a very frustrating exercise. We developed programs which are market-driven, would bring in millions of dollars of new investment, and create thousands of new jobs," says Kynoch.
The council "has been meeting regularly with government and processors for the past five years to resolve the challenges of insufficient market hogs not matching processing capacity," he said in a news release.
The council and meat packers "have developed financial packages to lever new private capital investment at the farm level, with some short-term support from government. For example, MPC met last week in Ottawa with government and industry officials to explain the core programs, which would resolve the lack of market hogs," Kynoch's news release says.
"The number of market hogs could be increased as we have the sow base and the processing capacity to take the pigs.
"But we need some help to lever more private capital investment on-farm, and for government to stop forcing regulations, which discourage investment and do nothing for the environment," he said.
Manitoba Pork Council's role and mission is to represent the province's 500 pork producers by fostering the sustainability and prosperity of the pork industry for the good of hog producers and all Manitobans.
Maple Leaf needs more hogs at Brandon Back to video