“There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t hear about inflation or the rising cost of food.” – Susan Riese, Manitoba Pork Council.

Pork sees growing goodwill in province

More Manitobans reported positive opinions about pork and pork production in annual sector survey

The reputation of Manitoba’s pork industry was in a good place around this time last year. Results from a public survey conducted last December and shared at the Manitoba Pork Council’s eastern producer meeting Nov. 8 showed year-over-year growth in public goodwill compared to a similar survey conducted in 2021. Of Manitobans surveyed in December

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Market uncertainty, election weigh on Manitoba pork sector

Volatility remains a feature, Manitoba Pork GM says

MarketsFarm — Cam Dahl, general manager of Manitoba Pork, has felt the highs and lows of the province’s pork industry over the past few months. While he expects Manitoba’s feed grain harvest to provide some relief to feed prices for pork producers, Dahl also mentioned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the African swine fever situation in


Mapping the changes behind Manitoba’s decades-long hog boom.

For its size, Manitoba’s pork sector is an overachiever. Here’s how it happened

How NAFTA, the end of the Crow Rate and the end of single-desk marketing shaped the sector, and what got lost along the way

Ian Smith’s hog farm hasn’t changed much since his family began raising pigs in the late 1960s. It has no pit system. Smith scrapes the pens and spreads straw twice a day. His 10 to 15 sows spend time outside. On his 160 acres near Argyle in Manitoba’s Interlake, he raises his own barley and

There have been recent large investments in the Manitoba Pork sector.

Study puts numbers to pork sector’s economic contribution

Pork’s outlook positive despite headwinds, industry says

Twenty-two thousand, or 55 per cent, of all agriculture and food processing jobs in Manitoba are tied to the hog sector, according to a new study released by the Manitoba Pork Council. “The contributions of Manitoba’s hog farming and pork processing sector to the provincial economy are substantial and show that our sector is an


(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Anti-ASF funds designated for Manitoba Pork

Three initiatives will be funded through the federal African swine fever preparedness program

The Manitoba Pork Council’s efforts against African swine fever now have almost $1 million in extra financial padding. On Aug. 3, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced $944,340 in funding for Manitoba’s hog farm group. Funds were provided through AAFC’s African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program and were slotted for three initiatives: Squeal on Pigs, increased

Aerial view of Centerm, a Burrard Inlet terminal for containerized cargo at the Port of Vancouver. Manitoba Pork says the hog sector has been especially at risk during the port strike.

KAP, Manitoba Pork call for feds to end port strike

Continued port delays could hurt Canada’s export reputation the groups said

KAP and Manitoba Pork are calling for decisive action from the federal government to end a costly strike at Canada’s western ports. “The Canadian supply chain and reputation of the reliability of our products abroad run the risk of being significantly damaged in international markets,” said Brenna Mahoney, general manager of Keystone Agricultural Producers in


Letters: Winds of change turn against pork industry

Letters: Winds of change turn against pork industry

Manitoba hog producers would do well to pay very careful attention to California’s Prop 12 and the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding it. Consumers around the world are letting their views on animal welfare be known, both through the power of their buying habits and through their support of issues like Prop 12. Contrary

“If we get to the point that we have to use regulations to enforce [it], it’s not working.” – Cam Dahl, Manitoba Pork Council.

Pork sector has new playbook against PED

The Manitoba Pork Council’s new PED elimination plan relies on surveillance, biosecurity and aggressive action, but leaves room for farms to tailor responses

Manitoba Pork’s new plan to combat porcine epidemic diarrhea, or PED, relies on disease surveillance, ‘wartime’ biosecurity, heavy crackdowns on infected farms and producer co-operation to eliminate the virus from the province. “The long-term impacts of a major PED outbreak every other year is not sustainable,” the plan document says. The pork council posted the


"We are feeling the
fallout of those
decisions that were
made in 2020, and we’ll
continue to do so until
we see a new normal
develop.”

Meat industry hits hard times

Inflation, high interest rates and high input costs are catching up to sector

The meat industry, particularly pork, is facing tough times as inflation catches up with demand. There’s been a torrent of bad news in the meat sector in the last two months. Tyson Foods reported its first quarterly loss since 2009; HyLife’s processing plant in Windom, Minn., declared bankruptcy; Smithfield Foods is closing 40 sow farms

VIDEO: Manitoba Pork weighs industry issues at AGM

VIDEO: Manitoba Pork weighs industry issues at AGM

From public outreach to taking the fight to wild boars, on to trade and everything in between, Manitoba Pork Council had a packed agenda at its annual general meeting held today in Winnipeg. Manitoba Co-operator editor Gord Gilmour spoke with Cam Dahl, the organization’s general manager, about some of the big issues facing the sector,