Could things get any worse for pork producers?

Farmers have seen the numbers of feeder pigs shipped to the United States cut in half thanks to new labeling laws. The high Canadian dollar has knocked down trade, especially to Japan and South Korea, which typically get 30 per cent of all Canadian pork exports. In eastern Ontario, some farmers recenlty lost contracts with Quebec processing companies. There is now a surplus of pigs so the federal government is paying farmers to cull their animals. Selling any pig today surely means selling at a loss.

There’s more. Last summer’s listeriosis outbreak at Maple Leaf foods also cut into sales and now there’s swine flu and the entire world is fretting over it.

You can’t get swine flu from eating pork or from cooking and handling it. But that won’t stop people from choosing not to buy it. Russia was first to banned all pork imports and the already depressed price of pork immediately dropped another 15 to 20 per cent. Then Egypt ordered the country’s entire pig population of more than 300,000 to be destroyed. Farmers there rioted.

What does all this mean for the local producer? Fear and loathing over more bans, more regulations, more trade wars and still lower prices. So, apparently, things could get worse.

Do we dare imagine?

— P. Meagher