In response to the article “No time to relax with tariff delay, Canada’s pork sector warns,” published in the Manitoba Co-operator Feb. 13:
Back in 2009, Ron Friesen wrote a piece for the Co-operator saying that the once booming pork industry was hitting the wall, and their chickens were coming home to roost.
Reading that column reminds me of the Gambler song, “You gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away and know when to run.”
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But isn’t everything in life like that? It’s what we do, how we do it and the common sense to know the difference from good and bad.
The hog expansion in Manitoba led by corporate investors and supported by the government had no foundation, no plan and no foresight. Its only self-commitment and strategy was to keep growing and, as such, became nothing more than like a house of cards…..remove one or two cards and the house will begin to collapse.
Apparently, U.S. President Donald Trump has removed the “protection from tariffs” card.
So, what to do next? A good approach would be to take a hard look at what the industry must do to win over not only consumers but rural neighbours and Canadian taxpayers as well.
The sector has had significant financial support from the public sector and advance payments alone over the past three years running have averaged more than $100,000 per producer.
Will the hog industry simply pick up the same deck and just re-deal? If that is their transition action plan, the game must be played a lot differently to succeed. Many more players and much smaller hands would be a start.
There is a good future for hog producers in Manitoba, but changes will be necessary. There must be an attitude change. There must be adherence to environment considerations and a recognition to the realities of economics. There must be an acceptance of responsibility and, most important, changes to the factory style of raising hogs.
Just a reminder: Unless you’re playing poker, bigger is not necessarily better.
One last thing: Manitoba Pork general manager Cam Dahl advertises that the industry supports nearly 23,000 jobs? Along with others, I would like to see the breakdown of those job numbers.
