Spruce Woods Colony took top honours at this year’s pork quality luncheon, with Wellwood Colony finishing runner-up, followed by Riverside Colony — the winners of last year’s event.

Sunnyside Colony and Boundary Lane Colony rounded out the top five.

The competition remains a highlight, even for experienced entrants, said Jason Hofer of Wellwood Colony.

The luncheon, organized in partnership with the Manitoba Pork Council, Assiniboine College, East 40 Packers and Blue Water Wash, pairs a pork-focused meal with a quality competition judged on the animals entered by producers.

As has become tradition for the event, winners also designated a charity of their choice to share in the prize money.

“We’ve won quite a few shows in the past, so we always have fun at it,” Hofer said. “It’s a good experience, it’s for charity, and that’s mainly the reason we like entering, because it’s a charitable cause.”

Wellwood Colony chose to support the Brandon Regional Health Centre this year.

“They’ve been asking for some funds they need to complete that new facility they got there, and they’ve asked for charity, so we decided we’re going to donate to them. We’ve donated lots to them before,” he said.

While a first-place finish is always the goal, placing second still feels like a win, Hofer added.

“You always want to be the winner, but you can’t always win. We’ve won our fair share of first places, and runner-up is good too.”

Producers choose charity

A key part of the event is its charitable impact, said Kristen Laing Breemersch, manager of operations and acting general manager with the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba, the organizing body behind the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.

This year’s selected charities included the Brandon Regional Health Centre Foundation, HEART (a Hutterite-led underwater search and rescue group) and several rural hospitals, including those in Neepawa, Souris and Portage la Prairie.

Prize money is split between producers and their chosen charities, with at least half directed to the selected organization for top-placing entries. Some winners go a step further.

This year, Laing Breemersch said, the grand champion winners donated the entire prize.

From farm to community tables

The pork itself is also put to use locally. The top two carcasses are sent to Assiniboine College to support culinary training, while the remaining product is processed and distributed to food banks and community groups with help from East 40 Packers.

Giving back is what makes the event stand out, Laing Breemersch said.

“It’s one of the aspects of our winter fair that is quite dear to me, to be able to give back to our community and give back to the people that are in need,” she said. “We couldn’t do it without the generosity and support of all of these colonies.”

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The pools hold a swill of cheaper, locally sourced ingredients, which can include brans, pumpkin vines and wine lees. But it is fermented – like yogurt – so the proteins are already broken down and easy to digest, lessening the need for the higher-quality proteins in soy, 80 per cent of which China imports.

For the farm’s owner, 47-year-old Gao Qinshan, the motivation is entirely monetary. Feed accounts for 70 per cent of pig rearing costs, and soybean prices have jumped – squeezed by Beijing’s trade stand‑off with Washington and compounded by war in the Middle East.

“Soybean prices have become so unstable,” Gao lamented.

With the industry already hobbled by oversupply and weak consumer demand, “pig farming has become unprofitable,” he said. “Everyone is thinking about how to cut costs.”

Beijing moves to deploy new feed, technology

The grassroots fixation on overheads belies Beijing’s more strategic motivations: long‑term food security and increased self‑reliance.

The government sharply accelerated a drive to expand protein sources for livestock in March of last year, just as trade tensions ramped up early into President Donald Trump’s second term. Soybeans quickly became a key bargaining chip.

Reuters interviews with dozens of livestock and feed producers, state researchers and industry experts revealed Beijing is moving faster than previously thought to deploy new technologies and promote fermented feed.

It’s the agricultural equivalent of Beijing’s campaign to build domestic capabilities in microchips and artificial intelligence, catalyzed by Washington’s stringent controls on advanced technology exports to China.

In terms of agriculture, “the biggest national policy goal right now is soymeal reduction,” said Fu Zhenzhen, a feed analyst at Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultants.

“The most direct reason for that is the trade war with the United States,” she said. “Fermentation is essential.”

Motivating farmers to switch

China is the world’s biggest buyer of soybeans, and imported $52.7 billion (C$73.3 billion) of the oilseed in 2024, $12 billion of which came from the U.S., the latest figures from the World Bank show.

Last year, inbound shipments increased 6.5 per cent from 2024 to a record 111.8 million metric tons, according to Chinese customs data.

Fermented feed currently accounts for eight per cent of industrial feed in China, up from three per cent in 2022, and is likely to hit 15 per cent by 2030, industry experts predict. That could help China cut soybean imports by up to 6.3 per cent from last year’s levels, according to Reuters calculations.

Pig farmers are just one piece of Beijing’s food security puzzle, albeit an important one, with pork a traditional staple of the Chinese diet — China is home to half the world’s pigs — and swine more dependent on soymeal than poultry or cattle.

Farms like Gao’s raise a third of livestock in China, the world’s biggest meat producer.

However, the switch to fermented feed requires a heavy commitment, often entailing the overhaul of entire feeding systems. Gao struggled initially, with feed growing mould and going to waste. Many farmers simply give up.

Beijing, characteristically, is leaving nothing to chance, offering incentives to every sector of the industry, and every link in the supply chain.

Targeting the entire supply chain

China’s Muyuan Foods, the world’s biggest pig farmer, has reduced soymeal in its feed from 10 per cent six years ago to 7.3 per cent now by using synthetic amino acids produced from fermented corn starch, Zhang Meng, director of the company’s feed division, told Reuters.

Agribusiness giant New Hope has developed soymeal-free chicken and duck feeds by fermenting duckweed and other cheap protein sources, according to people familiar with the matter. New Hope did not reply to a Reuters request for comment.

Working with the government, China’s two biggest dairy producers, Yili and Mengniu, have cut the amount of soymeal in cattle feed by 20 per cent, according to sources at the state-backed National Center of Technology Innovation for Dairy. Yili declined to comment, and Mengniu did not reply to a request for comment.

All of the figures on soymeal reduction are being reported for the first time.

China has also attracted foreign investment, with Dutch-based trading house Louis Dreyfus planning to build its first fermented feed production line in the northern port city of Tianjin.

“China is standing at the forefront of fermentation technology,” said Shambhu Nath Jha, principal consultant at Fact.MR.

The U.S.-headquartered consultancy estimates that the value of China’s fermented feed market vaulted to $6 billion (C$8.3 billion) last year, catching up fast on Europe’s leading but more mature market, worth $7 billion. The U.S. market, by contrast, is worth just $2.5 billion, because soybeans and corn are more readily available.

For poultry, China’s 25 per cent fermented feed adoption rate already surpasses Europe’s 20 per cent, according to Fact.MR.

Costs, complexity and taste

Beijing has momentum on its side: Pork prices at 16-year lows make any cost-reduction scheme an easy sell.

Where the fermentation pitch runs into problems is the lack of a standardized approach, analysts said.

Some argue that pigs mature more slowly if farmers simply ferment whatever food sources are available, and can be weaker to disease.

The ultimate test may be taste.

“There is so much demand from consumers for better quality meat, but the industry is just focused on reducing costs and doing what the government wants,” said Ian Lahiffe, an agriculture consultant in Beijing.

“There are a lot of benefits to feeding soybeans,” he said. “They need to think about how to avoid sacrificing animal health and meat flavour.”

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The week-long event, hosted by the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba, is in its last dayafter opening its doors March 30.

The annual spring break tradition features entertainers, vendors, a long list of horse sports events, as well as other features that bring attendees up close and personal with agriculture.

Manitoba’s major farm commodity groups were also in attendance, many with hands-on activities or live animal displays set up to mimic farm conditions.

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Companies should “strictly implement capacity control measures, scientifically arrange production and operation, orderly reduce the number of breeding sows, and control the number of pigs slaughtered in a reasonable manner,” the statement read.

The remarks were made during a meeting with representatives from the country’s hog producers, the state planner said.

— Reporting by Xiuhao Chen and Ryan Woo

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Live cattle gave up some of Tuesday’s gains before settling slightly higher, with a meatpacking plant on strike and dry weather and fires in Nebraska further tightening historically low cattle numbers.

CBOT corn futures climbed on Wednesday following crude oil prices, which rose more than five per cent on Wednesday after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to attack several energy facilities across the Middle East, heightening the risk of further disruptions to energy supplies in the region.

Strength in crude oil is seen as supportive given corn’s role as a feedstock for ethanol. However, rising corn prices also makes feeding cattle more expensive, supporting feeder cattle futures, according to Karl Setzer, co-founder of ConsusAg Consulting.

Meanwhile, workers have gone on strike at a large JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colorado, which is likely to reduce U.S. beef production at a time when consumers face record prices for beef.

CME April live cattle settled 0.175 cents higher at 235.4 cents per pound. April feeders finished down 1.075 cents at 358.725 cents per pound.

Meanwhile, dry weather and fires in pasturelands of Nebraska could displace tens of thousands of head of cattle and spur ranchers to slaughter parts of the herd they have been working to rebuild, according to analysts.

Beef packer margins rose to $142.15 per head on Wednesday, up from gains of $128.90 on Tuesday, and losses of $10.45 a week ago, according to livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.

CME lean hog futures LHJ26 ended up 0.025 cent at 93.75 cents per pound.

— Reporting by Renee Hickman

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Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne made the announcement March 17.

“Agriculture is without a doubt one of the most important and investable sectors in our economy,” said federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald in a news release.

“The pace of technological advancement we’ve seen across the industry in recent years has been impressive, and investments like this will continue to accelerate innovation.”

The federal cash is part of an $50 million equity commitment alongside Idealist Capital to support the next phase of Solugen’s growth and commercial expansion.

Solugen produces and commercializes Azogen, a fast-release liquid ammoniacal nitrogen fertilizer derived from hog manure.

The investment will allow Solugen to expand capacity at its existing plant in St-Patrice-de-Beaurivage, Que. and construct a second facility in the province.

Solugen was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Lévis, Que. Its Azogen is produced through a fully circular process. By converting manure into high-performance fertilizer, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions associated with conventional fertilizers, the news release said.

The funding comes through the Canada Growth Fund, a $15 billion, arm’s length public investment vehicle launched by the federal government to attract private capital and invest in Canadian projects and businesses.

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Swine Innovation Porc (SIP) on March 18 said it will provide up to $150,000 for a three-year research project led by Dongyan Xu Niu, a microbiologist and associate professor in the University of Calgary’s faculty of veterinary medicine.

Niu’s project will look at a new and different way to fight Streptococcus suis, a bacteria well known to cause respiratory infections, meningitis and sudden deaths in piglets after weaning.

WHY IT MATTERS: Canada’s hog farmers are mindful of over-reliance on antibiotics and could benefit from another way to keep S. suis in check.

The Calgary researchers plan to engineer beneficial lactobacillus bacteria to deliver enzymes that can specifically target and break down the S. suis pathogen, SIP said.

The team plans to identify and optimize these enzymes, integrate them into lactobacillus strains and then evaluate their ability to protect piglets from infection.

S. suis bacteria are endemic to Canada, colonizing most hog barns and spreading through contact with healthy carrier pigs after weaning, when antibodies from mother sows are unavailable to piglets. The bacteria are also known to be zoonotic, meaning they can cause severe infections in people who’ve had close contact with infected pigs.

“Strategic research investments like this help ensure Canadian producers have access to innovative tools and solutions to address priority health challenges in the barn,” SIP chair Mark Ferguson said in a release.

The funding for Niu’s project comes via SIP’s Advancing Swine Research Call for Proposals, which backs one- to three-year projects and runs until 2028. SIP said its support for this project is expected to mobilize up to $419,580 in total funding for it.

The U of Calgary project “reflects the type of collaborative, forward-looking research we aim to support” through the call for proposals, SIP general manager Daniel Ramage said in the same release.

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“We know domestic and international consumers will want to educate themselves on this technology, but it is important to note there is no mechanism to track or segregate this product through supply chains,” the Canadian Pork Council said in a March 3 statement.

Given the challenges of labelling, the council said it supports work to gain public acceptance for pork from these gene edited pigs.

In January, Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency gave the green light to pigs developed by U.K.-based Genus PLC and PIC (Pig Improvement Company), ruling them safe for food and feed. The pigs have been gene edited to resist porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).

Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada also said that environmental and human health risks were no different than with pigs currently available. The CFIA and Health Canada also found no difference in nutritional value, according to a Jan. 23 news release.

Pork from gene edited pigs won’t require special labelling because Health Canada found no health and safety concerns.

Calls for mandatory labelling

However, some agriculture and consumer groups are calling for mandatory labelling of foods produced through gene editing and genetic engineering — including pork from the PRRS-resistant pigs and genetically engineered tomatoes recently approved in Canada.

In a letter to Health Minister Marjorie Michel, a group of organizations including the National Farmers Union and the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) said mandatory labelling should be “urgently” implemented. It cited the recent approval of the pigs and tomatoes, and the imminent closure of the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB).

“Health Canada has committed ‘to the highest level of transparency’ relating to the genetically engineered pig. We support this goal but require clarification on how you will accomplish this promised transparency,” the letter says.

Health Canada has been working with that board since November on a public review of the National Standard for labelling and advertising regarding foods produced with genetic engineering. However, it was announced in the 2025 federal budget that the board would wind down activities.

“The CGSB is currently developing a transition plan to ensure reliable continuity and minimize disruption for partners and interested parties,” the government’s website says.

The letter does not specify what the groups’ concerns are about gene edited and genetically engineered foods. CBAN’s website says that GM foods are “approved for human consumption based on company-produced science” and that “there are very few long-term independent tests on GM foods.”

Organic groups have also called for mandatory labelling of gene edited crops, due to concerns about cross contamination. Canadian organic standards don’t allow for crops or animals bred with forms of genetic engineering.

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Canadian farmers and ranchers held 11.1 million cattle and calves on Jan. 1, up 2.5 per cent from one year before. Inventories rose across all categories of cattle. Beef heifers for breeding were up 4.8 per cent and beef cows were up 1.9 per cent.

Producers held 3.6 million calves, 4.3 per cent more than a year prior. This was mainly due to a 42.7 per cent increase in international imports of calves between July and December.

In the last six months of the year, slaughter of cattle and calves fell by 6.5 per cent to 1.6 million head, StatCan said. International exports dropped by 8.9 per cent to 361,300 head. Despite decreases, feeder and slaughter cattle prices climbed to record highs over the latter half of 2025 on global demand.

Hog inventories down

Canadian hog farmers reported 13.9 million hogs on farms as of Jan. 1, down 0.8 per cent from one year prior. They reported 1.2 million sows and gilts — up 0.4 per cent. The number of boars was unchanged at 15,300 head.

The pig crop for the second half of 2025 rose by three per cent year-over-year to 15.2 million. StatCan attributed this to an increase in demand from processors and international trade.

International exports of live hogs were up eight per cent year over year at 3.5 million head. Hog slaughter rose by 1.8 per cent to 10.9 million head.

Sheep and lamb inventory up

Canadian sheep and lamb inventories rose by three per cent year over year to 833,000 head.

The sheep breeding herd was up 2.2 per cent as inventories of ewes and replacement lambs both increased. Ram numbers were stable.

Sheep and lamb slaughter fell by 2.9 per cent year over year between July and December. Average producer prices for slaughter lambs fell well below those in the previous six months.

Between July and December, international exports of live sheep and lambs rose by 19.5 per cent to 4,900 head.

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This is the first confirmed case of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) in Alberta since February 2022. The disease first arrived in Alberta in 2019.

The affected farm has a three-kilometre and a 10-kilometre buffer zone around it to prevent the disease from spreading. No other farms are located within these zones.

The impacted producer is working with the provincial chief veterinarian officer and Alberta Pork to investigate the source of the outbreak, contain the disease and avoid further spread.

As of February 19, all facilities participating in Alberta Pork’s Environmental Disease Monitoring Program have tested negative for PEDv and porcine deltacoronavirus.

Alberta Pork advised farmers to practice strict biosecurity protocols. Producers should enhance biosecurity on-farm and in transportation and submit all swine manifests, including farm-to-farm movements, in a timely manner. Any place off farm, such as an abattoir, should be considered as a potential source for spreading PEDv.

What is PEDv?

PEDv causes diarrhea and vomiting in pigs. The illness can kill younger pigs in herds that have not been previously exposed to the virus.

PEDv does not pose a risk to human health, food safety or other animals. The disease can be spread by direct contact between infected and non-infected pigs, but also by people’s clothing, boots, vehicles, equipment and any items contaminated by the feces of infected animals.

The disease is provincially regulated in Alberta, and suspect cases must be reported to the provincial authorities. Producers should contact their veterinarians immediately if their animals exhibit signs of PEDv.

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