Desperate pork producers barely surviving competitive disadvantages

When Mary McDonald began managing the Northumberland Pork Producers Marketing Yard in Campbellford in 1998, 111 producers were shipping pigs. Only 10 are today.

Doug Farrell, of Roslyn north of Belleville, is one of the survivors but he’s just holding on.

"I’m not getting enough to cover expenses," he said in an interview with Farmers Forum. "I have things paid for but I’m living on depreciation. My equipment is all worn out and if I didn’t have old age security I couldn’t afford to keep on farming."

A former chair of the Ontario Pork Board, he said that the previous Ontario minister of agriculture, Leona Dombrowski, said that while producers were fewer the bigger ones had not only taken up the slack but were producing more pigs.

That isn’t true. The last year he was chair of the board, in 1984, Ontario shipped 85,000 hogs per week. "They’re (producers) still shipping 85,000 hogs," he said.

But the number of producers is down drastically. In 1984, there were 16,000 producers. Today, there are only 2,300.

Quebec farmers have managed much better, a neighboring producer, Rick Kloostra, told Farmers Forum. The government of Quebec provides more support for its hog farmers through the ASRA program, and while Quebec can’t ship to the U.S. because of the subsidy it can ship to Ontario. Moreover, U.S. pork finished on growth promotants is coming into Canada though Canadian farmers are not allowed to use the promotants.

"I don’t blame their farmers," he said. "But we’re up against a lot of unfair competition."

The proof, Farrell says, is in the numbers. Only 62 of Quebec’s 3,900 producers took the buyout program compared to 189 in Ontario, according to the latest figures in March.

The Quebec pork producers marketing board boasts that the industry employs 24,000 people, grosses $1.5 billion and exports to 75 countries.

A graduate of Kemptville College in the late 50s, Farrell says he always believed he could manage his way to profitability. But management only goes so far in a persistent downturn. The last time things turned rosy was back in 2005 when hogs were selling for $1.51 per kilo. But they have dropped since then and are only now rising to the point where there is profitability. During the last week of April, prices had risen to break even but futures until September will run in the $1.50 plus range per kilo.

"I can make a small profit when the price is $1.45," Kloostra says. But prices should go to $1.80 for a while for the industry to recover. He runs a farrow to finish operation with 150 sows, down about 30 from what he used to own. Both men have diversified to survive, mainly by cash cropping and doing custom work.

They’re both holding on to help other family members make a living, but see little beyond low returns and plenty of hardship. And then there is hope.