Spencer Long, Director of Marketing Genesus Inc.
The 2024 Canadian industry outlook is looking more positive for profitability each week. The projected profits by month for the 2024 calendar year currently show highs of $90+ a hog through the summer months and projected losses at the end of the year that are low. The Canada pork industry like the USA has been beaten and battered over the last number of years, a year of largely sustained profitability is beyond necessary. After a reduction of the overall pig herd across Canada it was inevitable that profitability would return but it sure has taken a long time. It is unfortunate that for our industry to be profitable we have to lose for sustained periods or for some producers just go out of business altogether. As an industry it would be logical to look at different ways for sustainable business to exist going forward rather than repeating the same cycle. Producing better tasting pork that will result in us not continuously losing market share when all consumer studies show that taste is the primary reason for consumers buying a product. Rather than getting caught up on irrelevant details about what some consumer study says is important like having grass fed pigs we need to focus on what matters. Taste. As an industry it’s not complicated at all – produce better tasting pork on a mass scale is one way to a more sustainable business.
The new rule by the U.S. to require meat, poultry and eggs labelled as a U.S. product to come from animals born, raised, slaughtered, and processed in the country has gotten more attention. The Canadian Pork Council sent out a release that it “is disappointed comments from the pork industry on both sides of the border were not taken into consideration in the finalised rule, announced March 11, mandating that all meat products sold with a ‘Product of the USA.’ label be derived from animals raised, slaughtered and processed in the U.S.” Canada exports around 4 million feeder pigs a year to the U.S. as well as over 1 million market hogs, sows, and boars. The National Pork Producers Council of the U.S. for its part had also come out against the new rule previously stating it would strain diplomatic ties with trading partners and potentially lead to tariff retaliation against U.S. agricultural goods. The U.S. government remains steadfast in its support for the program as in their words supported by stakeholders and data. As the new rules don’t come into effect until 2026 it remains to be seen but in all likelihood a change in the U.S. federal government won’t change this policy.
Canada’s Environmental Minister Steven Guilbeault, who is a convicted criminal, said that Canadian farmers don’t have carbon tax concerns and support it. “I’ve been meeting with grain farmers, cattle farmers. They don’t talk to me about carbon pricing. They talk to me about the hundreds of millions of dollars (in losses) due to the impacts of climate change on the farming sector in the country,” Guilbeault said. I am not aware of any producers in Canada that are not deeply angry about the carbon tax that has been imposed and even increased 23% earlier this month. The government in their infinite wisdom is taxing the people that produce the food whether it be heating barns to drying grain, there’s a carbon tax that needs to be paid. The idea that farmers who for many are struggling to financially stay afloat would be more concerned about climate change rather than the real impacts the carbon tax has on allowing them to have any sort of profitability is categorically insane and a blatant lie (or as Guilbeault and his Liberals call it “misinformation”). Of course, the names of these groups or farmers that Guilbeault has allegedly spoken with who support the carbon tax have not been given (his office has been asked for this by numerous people and no response has been given) because they don’t exist. The carbon tax is detrimental for farmers and with this Liberal government that plans on continuously raising it going forward it will only make Canada less competitive, hurt farmers and consumers. The reality is in Canada we essentially have a lame duck government that will get obliterated in the next election, they are doing everything to scorch the earth. When you have a convicted criminal as an Environmental Minister it’s no wonder, he loves a carbon tax imposed on the people who produce the food, many convicted criminals love inflicting pain and suffering on people.
Sources:
https://www.producer.com/news/video-environment-minister-claims-carbon-tax-support/
https://www.taste-institute.com/en/resources/blog/importance-of-taste-in-product-development
