Industry Information

State of the Industry

The abundant supply of feed grains, millions of acres of arable land suitable for manure application, well established environmental and water protection regulations and guidelines, and access to world class swine research organizations make Saskatchewan an ideal location for raising hogs. 

The Saskatchewan pork industry continues to operate in an ever-changing environment.  Many economic and market factors impact the profitability of our producers.  Over the past year, hog producers have seen an unprecedented rise in the value of the Canadian dollar relative to US currency and, in western Canada particularly, shrinking slaughter capacity.   This has had a dramatic effect on producers competitiveness in the world market and increased transportation costs to get their animals to market.  The implementation of  Country of Original labeling requirements in the US has further eroded producers' profits with reduced U.S.  demand and subsequent value paid for Canadian live swine shipped into the U.S.

Just one of the above factors can have a detrimental impact on a producer's profitability, but all of these factors culminating over a three year period is unprecedented.  Many have coined this "a perfect storm" that has created irreversable consequences for many hundreds of hog producers across the country.

New support programs have been announced in the last year to provide financial assistance to many producers during this difficult financial period:

In October 2009, the Canadian Pork Council announced the $75 million Hog Farm Transition Program (HFTP)to provide an incentive for producers to set aside hog production facilities for a minimum 3 year period.  Hog producers may bid for compensation payments from the HFTP under a closed tender bid process.  Producers may submit a bid tender to set aside all of their production facilities.  

Also in the fall of 2009, the Government of Canada announced the Hog Industry Loan Loss Reserve Program intended to assist viable hog farms in accessing financing from their banking institutions by injecting cash into hog operations via government guaranteed loans.   

In April 2008 the Government of Canada announced a national Cull Breeding Swine Program to decrease the Canadian swine breeding herd by 10% by mid-2008.  Producers participating in this program were required to depopulate one breeding barn for a three year period.  

The Government of Saskatchewan announced December 2, 2009 that it was offering an additional one-year optional extension of principal payments for the Short Term Hog Loan program for hog and cattle producers.  In November 2008, producers were also given the option to defer their 2009 principle payment to 2010 to assist them during the ongoing challenges facing the hog sector. 

In December 2007, the Government of Canada also announced the Advanced Payments Program for Hog Producers which will provide producers with easier access to cash flow by adding negative margin coverage under AgriStability as security for the Advance Payments Program (APP).