Spencer Long, Director of Marketing Genesus
The Canadian inventory of all hogs and pigs was reported for January 1, 2024. The report shows it is down 1 percent from January 1, 2023, and down 3 percent from January 1, 2022. The losses incurred have been detrimental for the industry in Canada which has resulted in the decrease in numbers, that decrease is still ongoing. The province of Quebec which was the largest producer in Canada has seen a large decrease in its breeding herd (-10% over the last two years) due to the shutdown of slaughter plants and the ongoing financial debacle. The total number of hogs on Quebec farms as of January 1, 2024, was down almost 5% on the year. Quebec has a program that allows producers to apply for compensation who sharply reduced their herds or quit the industry altogether which is being reported that 20% of producers have applied. There are 2,300 pig farms in Quebec ranging in size so around 460 farms have applied for this program to leave the industry altogether. On the other hand, Ontario numbers held mostly steady, while Manitoba’s herd was up 2.4%. For many producers in Eastern Canada the full slaughter plants in Ontario and shut down plants in Quebec have resulted in more producers having to ship their hogs to the U.S. With the current numbers in Ontario and despite the decreasing numbers in Quebec that shipment of hogs south will continue.
The U.S. just announced a new rule requiring meat, poultry and eggs labelled as a U.S. product to come from animals born, raised, slaughtered, and processed in the country will be interesting to see its impact. With the constant flow of Canadian pigs going down to the U.S. how this ruling impacts the pork with the ‘Product of USA’ label remains to be seen. How much pork now is being labelled ‘Product of USA’ that is in fact hogs that were first born in Canada before being raised, slaughtered, or processed in the U.S? That remains to be seen but it certainly could have an impact on how pork is labelled going forward. Canada exports around 4 million feeder pigs a year to the U.S. as well as over 1 million market hogs, sows, and boars. How the pork from these pigs is labelled in the U.S. will differ but no doubt lots of it is being labelled ‘Product of USA’ prior to this new rule change by the U.S. government. Pork labelled ‘Product of USA’ that isn’t within the parameters of these new rules won’t see any immediate change now as the new rules don’t come into effect until 2026, lots of time for companies to adjust.
On April 1st (fittingly April Fool’s Day) the carbon tax in Canada is set to jump 23% from its current amount. This will result in farmers and all Canadian consumers paying more towards the Trudeau’s government’s crusade in making life more unaffordable but appeasing the overlords at the World Economic Forum. The Canadian government seems to think that a country of 40 million people (0.5% of the world’s total population) will greatly impact the world’s decarbonization and amazingly fix “climate change”. For context, India, and China (35% of the world’s total population) are continually building more coal power plants and do not have a carbon tax. The far-reaching impacts of Canada’s carbon tax and its true cost on the country is incredibly spotty to say the least. Data and facts on it presented by the federal government are not accurate. The government touts that most Canadians receive more money from a rebate than they pay into it (most will see a net loss as reported by the non-partisan Parliamentary Budget Office, however). This isn’t surprising coming from a federal government that only knows how to lie and gaslight Canadians into thinking like a totalitarian government does to its people and when you think differently, they label it “misinformation” or “right wing politics”. The carbon tax does in fact raise the cost of food at the grocery store and with increases happening on April 1st on farmers it will not help reduce that cost. Food bank usage in Canada is at unprecedented record levels, how a carbon tax that will be a net loss for most Canadians helps reduce its use is incomprehensible. The cost of the carbon tax on Canadian farmers is destructive, it is an added tax to a business that is already difficult enough when things are going okay without all the unnecessary government red tape. That cost will inevitably have to be passed down to the Canadian consumer which is already struggling. The carbon tax isn’t just a brainless tax that hurts people, its detrimental in providing safe food that a growing world population requires. There’s a reason why Trudeau and his Liberals get decimated in agricultural ridings – the people that actually produce the food that he and his and cronies eat know the far-reaching impacts the carbon tax will have on their livelihoods and keeping the agricultural sector competitive.
Sources:
https://www.producer.com/news/u-s-finalizes-higher-standard-for-product-of-usa-meat-label/
https://m.farms.com/news/canadian-hog-numbers-decline-for-second-straight-year-207678.aspx
https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2024/01/29/moins-de-cochons-au-quebec
Categorised in: Featured News, Global Markets
This post was written by Genesus