In opening remarks, chair Rick Préjet said 2025 had been marked by “uncertainty, successes and optimism,” while highlighting the importance of export markets.

Those themes carried through panel discussions led by general manager Cam Dahl, who said Manitoba is particularly exposed because of its dependence on export markets.

“Trade really has become a key focus for Manitoba Pork,” he said, noting about 90 per cent of Manitoba production is exported either as live animals or pork products.

The discussion also swirled around tariffs and the increasingly protectionist tone of global trade. Canadian Pork Council executive director Steven Heckbert noted voluntary country-of-origin labelling (vCOOL) was introduced by Democrats, adding that both major U.S. parties have been moving in the same direction.

“We’re fighting a headwind of increased protectionism,” he said.

Trade concerns were also explored in a one-on-one discussion with Manitoba’s senior representative to the U.S., Richard Madan, who said that despite the rhetoric, there is still broad bipartisan support for smooth trade relations in agricultural states.

“Republicans, Democrats and stakeholders all understand the importance of integrated supply chains, and how Canada is part of a strong food supply system,” he said.

Biosecurity concerns also remain front and centre

Biosecurity was the other major focus. Speakers pointed to African swine fever preparedness, ongoing PED control efforts, wild pig eradication and the continued risk posed by senecavirus A. Recent low disease levels in Manitoba were attributed to stronger biosecurity, surveillance and coordination across the sector.

Dahl said protecting the sector depends in part on decisions made at the farm level.

“Don’t ship sick animals,” he said. “It’s not just your farm that you put at risk. It’s the entire Manitoba pork sector.”

The meeting also included discussion of Manitoba Pork’s public outreach and right-to-farm efforts. On the governance side, Margaret Rempel retired as board member at large and was replaced by Harv Toews.

Full coverage of the Manitoba Pork AGM will appear in the next edition of the Manitoba Co-operator.

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in an email on April 8 that new admissibility requirements for commodities originating from Greece have been set up in CFIA’s Automated Import Reference System (AIRS).

WHY IT MATTERS: Data from Greece’s tourism industry show over 300,000 arrivals in that country from Canada in 2024 alone.

According to the World Organization for Animal Health, Greece began reporting cases of foot-and-mouth disease on March 15 with nine infected cattle at a farm on the island of Lesvos, marking the country’s first such cases since 1994. Its most recent cases, in sheep and one cow on the same island, were reported March 29.

Greece’s cases so far have all occurred on farms in the northern regions of that island, in the Aegean Sea off the west coast of Turkey. So far, 438 animals in total have been confirmed infected.

The findings make Greece the fifth European Union member country currently under foot-and-mouth restrictions from Canada. Hungary, Slovakia and Cyprus all reported cases last year, while Bulgaria is the lone EU member country “not usually considered free” of foot-and-mouth disease.

Germany regained disease-free status last month, while CFIA’s restrictions on Austria were lifted last September.

While findings of the disease in Greece are so far limited to Lesvos, Canada’s new restrictions apply to the entire country, unlike certain other nations such as Brazil, Argentina and Peru in which CFIA classifies some but not all provinces or states as free of foot-and-mouth disease.

What products are prohibited?

At-risk commodities covered by Canada’s import ban include live animals and germplasm; animal products and byproducts; uncooked meat and meat products; raw milk and milk products made from raw milk, such as unpasteurized cheese; unprocessed manure; laboratory material; blood products; livestock feed and equipment that has been in contact with affected animals; raw or unprocessed pet foods; raw hides, skins, wool, antlers, horns, hooves; and any other non-heat-treated products or byproducts from vulnerable animal species.

Species vulnerable to foot-and-mouth disease include hogs, cattle, bison, sheep, goats, camelids (llamas, alpacas) and cervids (deer, elk, moose) among others.

CFIA’s restrictions apply to any at-risk products dating as far back as 28 days before the first symptoms were detected in an affected country.

Foot-and-mouth disease, according to CFIA, is a viral disease characterized by symptoms including blister-like sores on the tongue and lips, in the mouth, on the teats and between the hooves; foot lesions, accompanied by acute lameness and reluctance to move; and loss of appetite or milk production. The virus can spread between animals through direct, indirect or airborne transmission.

Canada is free of the disease and has not reported any cases of the disease in livestock since 1952, when an outbreak in southeastern Saskatchewan is believed to have originated with a visitor from an infected farm in Germany, carrying the virus either on clothes or an infected sausage.

Advice for farmers visiting Greece

Canadians are still free to travel to Greece, but CFIA recommends they avoid visiting farms when doing so. Travellers who do visit farms should make sure clothes and footwear worn during those visits are free from soil or manure. Footwear should be cleaned and disinfected, and dry-cleaning of the clothes worn is recommended.

Travellers should also avoid contact with susceptible animals, including farm and zoo animals and wildlife, for 14 days after returning to Canada.

For farmers who travel to Greece, contact with farm animals is not recommended for five days upon return to Canada, when “strict personal decontamination measures” are applied to clothes and footwear, CFIA says.

Travellers also must declare all food products upon arrival in Canada. Generally, CFIA says, meat and dairy products from foot-and-mouth infected countries won’t be allowed, but foods that are “cooked, shelf-stable, commercially prepared and hermetically sealed” may be.

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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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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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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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Representatives from several organizations made a case for the practice similar to that in the United States during recent testimony at the House of Commons agriculture committee.

“The current information gap is preventing our industry from realizing its full long-term potential,” said Canadian Pork Council chair Rene Roy.

He said the correlation between the Canadian price and the U.S. benchmark is a critical issue for the industry.

“Too often, the price paid to Canadian producers decouples — is not aligned — from the reference market without any clear way for producers to identify the structural causes,” he told the committee.

Roy said setting up price transparency in advance would protect Canadian producers in the event of a foreign animal disease challenge.

He also said this would allow Canadian producers to understand their own value chain.

“We are often told that Canada is globally competitive, but without verified data we are essentially navigating by guesswork,” he said.

Clear data makes the sector more attractive for investment and a new generation of farmers. He said a system similar to that of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in place for about 25 years, would include retailers.

Roy’s Quebec counterpart, Louis-Phillippe Roy said the committee’s study offers hope of obtaining fairer business relationships between producers and processors, as well as better trade relations.

“It will also correct certain price distortions, which happen too often between producers and processors,” he said.

WHY IT MATTERS: The Canadian and American pork and beef sectors are highly integrated but sometimes the American reference prices don’t accurately reflect the Canadian market. Price information in the U.S. is aggregated and shared by the USDA.

Louis-Phillippe Roy said American prices dropped between 2015 and 2019 due to a production surplus, and Quebec producers saw those same decreases, even though production was lower than the province’s slaughter capacity.

Stephen Heckbert, CPC president and chief executive officer, said Canadians should have sovereignty over the Canadian price.

“The fact that this system already exists in the United States and that we are entirely dependent on it means that if there is an outbreak of African swine fever in the United States, it would be worse than if it happened in Canada,” he said.

U.S. processors were initially reluctant to provide data, but it has become an important industry tool that uses cutout prices, said Rene Roy.

The Canadian pork sector has never had price reporting, but there is some history in the beef industry. It began in 2003 after BSE and ended in 2020.

“We have tried a number of ways to bring it back,” said Brenna Grant, executive director of Canfax, a division of the Canadian Cattle Association.

“The greatest concern from the packers has been confidentiality, given the limited number of players in the market.”

Grant said she believes it could be done, noting that in the U.S., data is suppressed when a limited number of packers report. Or, she said, only certain cuts could be reported.

CCA executive vice-president Dennis Laycraft said he wasn’t sure if mandatory reporting would benefit beef producers because processing competition is much smaller than in pork.

Calvin Vaags operates True North Foods, a federally inspected plant in Manitoba that processes about 180 animals per week. He said price discovery begins in the U.S. market, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“Having said that, when it does come and get converted to a Canadian price, there’s basis considerations with freight, regulation and many things there. Those things, perhaps, we could look at to get better transparency.”

Thomas Beretta from Alberta meat packer Beretta Farms said more transparent pricing would work, but data collection has to be done by an independent third party.

Vaags said the information supplied through the previous Canfax program arrived too late to be helpful. A new system would have to be more robust and timely.

Donald Boucher, director general at Agriculture Canada’s sector development and analysis branch, said the government supports industry-led efforts to improve price transparency.

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