By Treena Hein

Earlier this year, the Ontario Pork and Manitoba Pork boards of directors welcomed new chairs. In conversation with the incoming and outgoing leaders in both provinces, all four were reached to provide their take on current and future priorities for their respective organizations.

Manitoba priorities include improved pricing

Rick Préjet, Manitoba Pork’s incoming board chair, grew up in Notre Dame de Lourdes – about 130 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg – where he assists his oldest son in running a 5,000-sow farrow-to-finish operation – including nurseries, finishing barns, a feed mill and trucking – which employs more than 40 people. After graduating with a diploma in agriculture from the University of Manitoba, Préjet worked for seven years in the feed industry before returning to Notre Dame with his wife Roseline and their four children to build a 150-sow hog farm, eventually partnering with local investors to build their larger operation, stimulating the local economy in the process.

Préjet is no stranger to the Manitoba Pork board, having already spent a decade serving on it. During six of those years, he led various committees, including human resources and industry performance. He also spent nine years serving on the Prairie Swine Centre board of directors, including several years as chair.

“I’ve always thought research was important,” said Préjet. “The Centre is an arm of the University of Saskatchewan, but financially independent, and that has always been the challenge – to make sure enough grant and producer dollars, as well as income from selling pigs, were coming in. Collaboration was therefore important, reaching out to other research institutions in western Canada and eventually to Ontario and Quebec, to ensure we were not overlapping with study topics. Research funding dollars are limited, and we must all work to stretch them as far as we can.”

In terms of Manitoba Pork’s goals, a top priority for Préjet is to do everything he can to move the western Canadian industry to more equitable pricing formulas with greater weight given to cutout values. Last year, Manitoba Pork and the producer organizations in B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan approached major packers about the issue, and at this point, some have stepped up. Others, however, have not.

“There’s no quick answer,” said Préjet. “Discussions are ongoing to try and figure out the best plan. We are seeing independent producers continuing to close, because they can’t make enough money to keep going.”

Préjet also wants to focus on further development of collaboration across the value chain: “We’realready doing well with this, and we have a lot of people involved in this collaboration, so it’s a matter of continuing on. It’s about understanding each other’s needs and how we can make the system work for everyone.”

Business risk management is also a priority for Préjet: “We really appreciate the work that the federal agriculture minister and the provinces have done on this, ensuring there are long-term programs going forward that work for our industry.”

In the shorter term, Manitoba Pork staff are now reaching out to municipalities individually, following a discussion with the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, to consider the value of having hog operations in their areas. The Manitoba Pork board wants to inform elected officials and community members about what to expect with new building projects and address inaccurate perceptions.

“We’re also working again with Assiniboine Community College in Brandon on some changes we’d like to see to their pork production training courses,” said Préjet. “And it’s time again for us to do strategic planning as a board. We do this every five years.” 

Former Manitoba chair reflects on disease prevention

Préjet takes the reigns from George Matheson, who spent 15 years as a director and six years as the chair of the Manitoba Pork board. During his tenure, a concerted effort to stamp out porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) in Manitoba has proven very effective. That is, during 2019, the province’s pork producers lost about three per cent of the provincial herd – approximately eight million pigs – to PED, but in 2020, there were only three cases in the province, with none so far in 2021. However, vigilance remains critical, as there are lots of cases this year south of the border.

“It helps that there’s only one major route from the south into the province,” said Matheson. “And there is also lots of distance both west and east to other pork producers.” 

Over the years, Matheson also saw relationships with the U.S. pork industry develop significantly: “Things are very good now. Years ago, there were trade challenges, but we’re very integrated now as part of one big system, and I hope that that continues. We’ve kept ASF out, and we’ve got plans in place that should allow for continued exports from some areas of North America in case it’s found in a specific location.”

Matheson thanks the provincial pork industry for its long-standing confidence in him: “A great board and great staff made my job much less stressful.”

Collaboration and growth are key in Ontario

At Ontario Pork, new chair John de Bruyn is settling in. De Bruyn previously served as vice-chair and worked hard to secure support for a new swine research facility in Elora, near the University of Guelph.

“We got the capital investment together and will now have a facility similar to the beef and dairy research barns nearby,” said De Bruyn. “I believe this sends a message to young people and to our trade partners as well that pork is valued in Canada – that it’s an important industry.”

With his wife, Deb, De Bruyn has a 750-sow farrow-to-finish operation near Woodstock, about 50 kilometres northwest of London. Their five children have always contributed to the farm, and the oldest, Drew, has now taken on most of the operational duties. In his youth, De Bruyn graduated with a diploma from the Oxford School of Agriculture at Fanshawe College, and he has been active in Swine 4H and Ontario Pork over the years.

Above all this year, De Bruyn would like to see a return to stronger connections among Ontario’s pork producers: “I think personal interactions are important, and I’m looking forward to that as COVID-19 is taken care of. Online meetings have been good, but it’s very valuable for producers to share information in-person about running their farms. It’s also a way for producers to talk to us about their concerns and what we need as an industry going forward. And we need to build interest in serving on the board.”

De Bruyn also wants to ensure the political structure changes proposed for Ontario Pork prior to the pandemic move ahead. In addition, he wants to nurture sustainable industry growth: “Ontario has everything the industry needs. Lots of water, the best grain in the world, transportation infrastructure, the know-how. Having most of our feed grown here mitigates feed price fluctuations. The challenge is building the export market and ensuring we continue to prevent ASF entry and mitigate the risks of possible entry.”

De Bruyn is confident that Ontario’s pork producers can continue to exceed consumer expectations related to food safety, animal welfare and environmental footprint: “Most of our operations are on 100- or 200-acre parcels, so there’s ample room to handle more manure. We are also well-positioned with the provincial government and agencies like the Thames River Collaboration to continue working on environmental issues, such as phosphorus levels in Lake Erie. It’s a strength of Ontario Pork that we work collaboratively to seek out solutions, and we will continue to use that strength.”

De Bruyn would also like to see more investment in provincial processing capacity: “Right now, we rely on about 20,000 hogs a week being processed in other provinces, and some weaners are finished in the U.S. It would be great to have more processing here.”

Former Ontario chair prides himself on social responsibility

Past Ontario Pork chair Eric Schwindt grew up on a farm near Elmira – just outside of Kitchener – where he and his wife Steph have raised their three daughters. Reflecting on his time as chair: “COVID-19 was certainly challenging. It took a lot of effort from producers, processors, marketers, transporters, Ontario Pork staff and government to keep market hogs moving, demonstrating the resiliency of the industry. Over the longer term, we also worked to build a collaborative approach with government for the continued development of business risk management programs.”

Schwindt thinks the other major accomplishment during his term was advancing the Ontario Pork social responsibility report. It demonstrates to all stakeholders that continued progress is being made to ensure pork is safe, sustainable and healthy, and it has been updated every year since 2015.

“I really appreciate the opportunity to have served as chair of Ontario Pork,” said Schwindt. “All the things I learned, all the people I’ve met, and the friendships – it’s been really fun and interesting.”

By Stacey Ash

Editor’s note: Stacey Ash is Manager of Communications and Consumer Marketing at Ontario Pork. She can be contacted at stacey.ash@ontariopork.on.ca.

In 2021, Ontario Pork celebrates 75 years of serving and representing pork producers in the province. Celebrating such an important milestone has some challenges, with pandemic restrictions still limiting social gatherings, but the organization continues to mark the occasion in various ways, with plans for a more formal celebration when we can safely gather again.

A special anniversary section was incorporated into Ontario Pork’s Corporate Profile, including interviews with multi-generational farm families, insights provided by international workers growing their career in the Canadian pork industry and forward-looking insights from new members of the industry. A 75^th-anniversary logo brings the celebration to Ontario Pork’s websites and producer-facing social media accounts.

Photos from the archives are being shared online at ontariopork.on.ca/history, as well as on social media, using the hashtag #OntarioPork75. Producers and industry partners are encouraged to join this trip down memory lane with contributions from their own photo albums or pork memorabilia collections.

There’s more to come, with planned contests, giveaways and celebrations in the months ahead.

Ontario Pork – looking back

On April 21, 1946, the offices of the Ontario Hog Producers’ Board opened in Toronto.

Farmers looked forward from the scarcity of the Second World War to a collaborative model where elected members would represent their best interests. Charles McInnis was a driving force behind the formation of the marketing board and served as president until 1961, alongside Norman McLeod, the board’s first chair.

At the time, close to 120,000 farms in Ontario reported having hogs, with an average of about 16 hogs per farm, and producers agreed to pay $0.02 per hog for the support of a central marketing organization.

It was not always easy. The 1950s saw the beginnings of central selling, first with United Livestock Sales, and later through the Ontario Hog Producers’ Cooperative, with 28 assembly yards operating across the province. The decade also saw escalating tensions between producers, processors and transporters, who did not all agree on the central approach to selling hogs.

The 1960s began with a swell of optimism around plans for the Farmers Allied Meat Enterprises (FAME) processing co-operative. At the Ontario Hog Marketing Board, advances were being made in hog selling. A new teletype machine at the head office listed lots of animals to be sold at assembly yards, and a new index grading system came into effect.

Efforts to promote pork to the public – and grow domestic sales – picked up steam in the 1970s, as the Ontario Hog Producers’ Marketing Board was renamed the Ontario Pork Producers’ Marketing Board. Ontario Pork opened two Toronto restaurants – ‘The Pork Place’ on King Street West, and the ‘Pork Pickins’ fast food outlet. The popular, and still quoted, ‘Put Pork on Your Fork’ campaign was in full swing by the end of the decade.

The 1980s were a time of political turmoil, as trade disputes with the U.S. saw heavy countervail duties imposed on fresh, frozen and chilled pork from Canada. Strong political advocacy on the provincial and national fronts helped see those duties eliminated in 1991. The focus at Ontario Pork turned to organizational review, beginning with the privatization of all Ontario Pork assembly yards. Debates and studies related to organizational review lasted well into the new millennium, leading to the end of single-desk selling in 2010.

Those years also saw significant change on the processing front, with Conestoga Meat Packers beginning operations near Breslau in 1982. In 1994, 120 farms came together to create Progressive Pork Producers: a farmer-led co-operative to run Conestoga Meats.

Swine research became a cornerstone of Ontario Pork’s mandate, with one project in particular garnering a great deal of attention in the early 2000s: Enviropig. Genetically engineered to reduce phosphate excretion, the pig developed at the University of Guelph showed great promise to address environmental concerns but ultimately could not overcome public distaste for genetic modifications.

In 2014, Ontario Pork helped the industry navigate two major crises: with the collapse of Quality Meats in Toronto, and export disruptions following the arrival of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) in Canada. Working with government, Ontario Pork secured funding to help restore consumer confidence and boost sales through the creation of a retail branding program.

Through massive demographic shifts, operational changes, political battles, trade issues, disease outbreaks and evolving public expectations, one thing has remained constant: Ontario Pork’s steadfast commitment to serving and supporting its members.

Ontario Pork today – and tomorrow

Today, 75 years after the organization first opened its doors, a global pandemic, which brought shortages and supply chain disruptions, appears to be nearing its end. Support from our provincial government partners is strong, including the creation of new legislation to better protect farms targeted by those who would seek to end the industry. 

What do the next 75 years look like? Pork producers in Ontario have earned a reputation for resilience and perseverance. This comes from the hard work and commitment demonstrated by producers, Ontario Pork board members and staff, and industry stakeholders. Those up-and-coming in the industry are continuing their commitment to environmental stewardship, along with increased collaboration and partnership within industry and government to ensure the further growth of the sector for future generations, so that they can carry on the legacy of providing a high-quality product for consumers.

While the number of producers is only a fraction of what it was in the beginning, appetite for Ontario-raised pork now continues to grow at home and overseas, and Ontario Pork ensures the voice of producers is heard as loudly today as it was in 1946. Ontario Pork, and the producers it represents, can look forward with confidence to the next 75 years.