By Andrew Heck

War brings with it no shortage of tragic consequences. Frequently, outsiders observing the Russian invasion of Ukraine are exposed to news reports showing all manner of devastation, including strikes against military and industrial targets, but also civilian areas.

For some hog farmers in Ukraine, life has become nothing short of a nightmare, as their farms have become unwittingly caught in the crossfire. Yet, their resiliency has been remarkable. Facing a true emergency of the highest order, they continue to produce pigs, process pork and supply their mostly domestic market.

From the direct impacts to Ukrainian civilians, to ripple effects across the Ukrainian pork value chain, hog farmers around the world should have their eyes on Ukraine, if they want a crash course in the value and need for emergency planning and what’s at stake when things go terribly wrong.

Massive change comes quick

From one day to the next, Ukrainians’ lives and livelihoods currently hang in the balance.

“All possible risks are there in Ukraine,” said Oksana Yurchenko, President, Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders. “Despite this, we continue to work with our partners to support producers, whose needs are different in each region of the country.”

Ukrainian producers raise hogs across a large swath of territory spanning from the eastern and central provinces bordering Russia and its ally, Belarus, all the way to the far western provinces, sharing borders with friendlier neighbours like Poland, Slovakia and Romania. While Ukraine is certainly smaller than Canada, it is the second-biggest country in Europe to Russia, stretching more than 1,500 kilometres at its widest. As in Canada, far-spread clusters of production lead to regional differences.

When full-on war struck the eastern part of the country, chaos ensued, as many producers were left to fend for themselves.

“Nobody knew what to do,” said Yurchenko. “Producers stopped breeding gilts to halt the production cycle, and they cut sow herds.”

In addition to immediate production impacts, other factors were at play: unreliable electricity and gas, unsafe transportation routes and even the threat of being drafted into the military.

“Our ministry of agriculture has an agreement with the ministries of defense and finance to make exemptions for up to half of all producers seen as critical to maintaining the food supply,” said Yurchenko. “However, it is an application process, which can be difficult. Older producers are not seen as fit for combat, but younger producers and their workers are vulnerable.”

Because the collective labour pool has shrunk with resources tied up in the war, all facets of the industry have experienced setbacks.

“[Military] mobilization is a challenge. You lose veterinarians and other people when they don’t manage to receive immunity,” said Yurchenko. “Some farms lost most of their employees to the military, which creates difficulty continuing the operation.”

Sporadic explosions and firefights constantly threaten farms in conflict hot spots. Machinery is often stolen by occupiers, whose presence lingers even after they’re gone, with landmines that have been buried. It is estimated that more than one million acres of Ukrainian farmland are actively mined.

“Unfortunately, we have lost about 15 per cent of all farms and about 11 per cent of the entire pig herd, either because of the war or because producers shut down their operations,” said Yurchenko. “Fortunately, no major processing facilities have been affected, as these are found mostly in non-combat zones.”

Agrocomplex Slobozhansky was one of Ukraine’s largest hog producers pre-war. Spread between two sites in Kharkiv province, the company’s 3,400 sows and integrated operations were delivered a major blow between March and September 2022, as Russian troops were stationed just a few kilometres away, regularly hammering the region to wrest control of it.

Throughout the occupation, Agrocomplex Slobozhansky’s owners kept a diary of events as they took place.

“The farm faced constant shelling, and the surrounding roads were blocked, making supply of critical inputs and shipments of pigs out impossible,” the diary reads. “Farms began to use diesel generators, and the drinking and feeding systems were only run a few hours a day to save diesel. Pigs on both farms began to die, due to lack of water and feed.”

Starting in April, the nearby village and surrounding areas completely lost power. Then, in May, additional shelling destroyed the farms’ feed mill. In a futile attempt to keep up with operational needs, workers began to grind grain for feed by hand. Eventually, the area was liberated, but not without bitter consequences for the producer.

“Now that the region has been freed from Russian troops, the farm currently has 1,300 breeding pigs. Many of the barns have no windows, and there are holes left by shells in a number of the roofs.”

On the bright side, Agrocomplex Slobozhansky was lucky enough not to have lost everything, unlike some others. The company vows to rebuild and repopulate to pre-war levels, at a price tag equivalent to around CAD $25 million. Though, little to none of the necessary funding will likely come from external partners.

“Before the war, we had some government programs to finance new construction and renovations to barns, but that has since ended,” said Yurchenko. “Farms today in the highest-risk areas are rejected for support and denied bank loans.”

From the depths of carnage and destruction to the relative yet tenuous stability of the present day, Ukrainian hog farmers continue to fight for their farms and lives.

Ukrainian industry still sees hope

Starting in 2012, African Swine Fever (ASF) quickly became a major concern for Ukrainian producers, when the disease first broke on a small farm in the east. Then, multiple cases in wild boar were discovered in 2014, followed by an outbreak on a 60,000-head commercial operation in 2015.

“Since then, we’ve been working with the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] and UNFAO [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations] on improving Ukrainian swine biosecurity,” said Yurchenko. “Even right now, we’re still creating educational materials, like instructional videos, to help other farmers model their operations off of those that have made positive changes.”

From recently adopted protocols like showering in and out of barns, and diligent efforts to fence all outdoor operations, ASF is being faced head-on, for the sake of business continuity under intense pressure.

Throughout 2022, the number of pigs on-farm in Ukraine declined by 11 per cent, to just over five million total. Approximately 35 per cent of Ukrainian pigs are raised on small farms, with producers selling to local abattoirs, and the remaining 65 per cent belonging to the commercial system.

Compared to Canada, the impact of Ukrainian pig production on local food security is proportionally larger, as Ukraine currently exports only about 5,000 metric tonnes of pork annually, compared to Canada’s 1.4 million metric tonnes. Prior to 2015, Ukraine’s exports were six times larger than today, with its biggest customer, Russia, no longer seen as a favourable client.

Beginning in 2014, long-standing political tensions between Russia and Ukraine finally flared up, resulting in the ongoing occupation of Crimea – the disputed peninsula jutting into the Black Sea. The Black Sea connects to the Mediterranean via the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits through Turkey, the route by which Ukraine and Russia move much of their agricultural commodities, like grain and oilseed, to foreign markets. In response to widespread economic sanctions issued against Russia for its aggression, the country banned imports of agricultural commodities from several sources, including Canada, which is estimated to have cost the Canadian pork industry $500 million.

The bulk of Ukrainian pork is consumed domestically, and consumer prices are high across the board for all types of food. Despite the cost, demand remains high, with Ukrainians continuing to desire pork. Pre-war, Ukraine consumed 800,000 metric tonnes of pork annually, with 100,000 metric tonnes now off the market, creating a void.

In a rare victory, this high demand, coupled with reduced supply, has created new opportunities for producers and processors outside of the main conflict zones. And while the export-based Ukrainian crop sector has been hurt by an inability to move grain out of its ports, it’s led to lower domestic feed costs for hog farmers. In Ukraine, as in Canada, those costs represent upwards of 70 per cent of all inputs for any given producer, typically.

“It’s true that many producers in the east have either lost or chosen to shut down their farms, but some of them have moved west, which has been seen as an opportunity,” said Yurchenko.

Even before the war, Ukraine was a net-importer of pork, mostly from countries like Poland, Germany and Denmark. Still, foreign market diversification remains an attractive strategy for processors, who are working with E.U. officials to implement zoning and prove that Ukrainian pork from commercial farms is free of ASF. While entrance into the E.U. marketplace remains a lofty goal, emerging partners in Asia, like Vietnam and Hong Kong, are already buying Ukrainian pork.

While high prices for pigs and pork are a silver lining for the Ukrainian industry, farms hit with ASF are afforded no financial assistance to recover losses incurred from depopulating and sanitizing barns.

“It doesn’t leave them with many options,” said Yurchenko. “That’s why we’re focused on trying to keep the number of new cases low.”

While the overall situation for Ukrainian hog farmers remains harrowing, with no clear resolution in sight, the industry and the Ukrainian people have looked to triumph, however possible.

Canadian farmers should be ready

For Canadian hog farmers, the prospect of war may seem far-flung, but other emergencies – such as animal backlogs experienced during COVID-19 processing closures, the possibility of foreign animal disease outbreaks and environmental disasters – provide plenty of rationale for our industry to take notice and learn from Ukraine’s struggles.

Stemming from multi-stakeholder discussions in 2018, the African Swine Fever Executive Management Board (ASF EMB) was assembled to act as a framework for collaborative work to prevent and control ASF, if it were detected in Canada. The ASF EMB is coordinated by Animal Health Canada (AHC), a not-for-profit association jointly funded by federal and provincial governments, industry organizations and other partners.

Similarly, the Animal Health Emergency Management (AHEM) Project was designed to engage and educate livestock producers across Canada in their efforts to minimize the impacts of disease on-farm. AHEM was taken on by AHC in 2020. Both the ASF EMB and AHEM Project were incorporated into AHC’s new Emergency Management Division earlier this year.

The AHC Emergency Management Division’s main task is to support emergency preparedness planning to ensure rapid and coordinated response across industry and governments, with a particular focus on foreign animal diseases like ASF and Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD). This, in turn, supports a quicker recovery, which is good for producers, supply chain partners and the Canadian economy.

For producers, the group continues to work with provincial and national pork producer organizations to help with farm-level management, including printed and digital materials, in-person seminars and webinars. Many of the tools being developed can be applied to various types of emergencies, as it’s easier to modify an existing plan than to start from scratch, should the need arise.

For Mikki Shatosky, who works in AHC’s Emergency Management Division, it’s about more than just planning – it’s about understanding how to respond to an emergency. This understanding should begin long before an emergency occurs.

“You have to plan thoroughly; it’s not only about your well-being but also the well-being of your workers, family and all those involved in the response,” said Shatosky. “It could potentially affect your neighbors, first responders and your entire community. Have first responders ever dealt with an emergency on a pig farm? What specific information could be provided in advance to assist them?”

Building strong relationships within your community and with partners, including your provincial pork producer organization, ensures everyone is aligned in their understanding of what could happen in case of an emergency.

“In the event of a disease outbreak, there will be a lot to manage. You’ll need to have an inventory of your animals, equipment and a site map, among other crucial information,” said Shatosky. “The more you can do in advance, the better prepared you will be. When you’re actively facing the emergency, it’s too late. Having the necessary tools ready can be a significant help.”

Emergency preparedness goes beyond the logistical considerations related to your farm. Confronting a crisis often carries heavy mental, emotional and psychological baggage.

“When you add animals to the equation, it heightens the stress level,” said Shatosky. “As a farmer, you raise animals that you sincerely care for. When something goes wrong, you feel personally responsible, but it’s important to realize you’re not alone, and you must take care of yourself. Knowing where to find assistance is vital.”

Shatosky also emphasized the merit of international cooperation for mutual learning.

“Collaboration across borders and international knowledge-sharing are important components of our work,” said Shatosky. “We bring together private practitioners, government officials and industry representatives from around the world to exchange ideas through our programs.”

Whether you are in Canada, Ukraine or anywhere else, no-one is immune to unforeseen circumstances. For hog farmers, effective planning, preparedness and response are your best forms of self-protection.

Pray for peace but prepare for war

There is understandably a big difference between envisioning an emergency and experiencing one. Whether on-farm or in society, as Ukraine is facing, broken spirits must quickly mend and trudge onward.

“During the first months of the war, you would hear the air raid siren and panic,” said Yurchenko. “It’s quite difficult to imagine, but people living here are making the best of the situation. Who knows what will happen tomorrow? Nobody knows. Why not have a BBQ? Life goes on.”

During this time of war for Ukrainians, the fight is actively on. And while violent conflict may not be on the horizon for Canada, peace time in the pork industry should mean taking all measures in advance of a crisis, especially one that interrupts foreign trade. That includes evaluating and upholding the highest standards of biosecurity and animal health, in anticipation of the recovery process. Business resumption will depend on it. 

By Caitlin Gill, Trenna Brusky & Heather L. Wilson

Editor’s note: Caitlin Gill is Communications Coordinator, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO). She can be contacted at caitlin.gill@usask.ca. Trenna Brusky is Marketing Coordinator, VIDO.

Immunization helps prevent and control infectious diseases and reduces associated economic loss in livestock industries. Innovative immunization strategies provide producers with more effective and efficient ways to protect their animals. These innovations include new vaccines that offer broader protection and new delivery methods that reduce stress on the animals, minimize the need for handling and remove the use of needles to protect the health of the animal and the barn staff.

Dr. Heather L. Wilson, a research scientist at the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), has spent almost two decades developing vaccines to protect breeding pigs from reproductive diseases and piglets against infectious diseases. Her team is now looking at the technical feasibility of intrauterine immunization – a possible breakthrough that could change the way female pigs are vaccinated, offering new solutions to existing disease issues like porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED). 

Modern systems require new approaches

The industry transition to group housing and farrowing systems in Canada will require a shift in standard vaccination practices to protect barn personnel. The traditional intramuscular vaccine route includes the use of needles, which can break, leading to a food safety hazard and damage to the meat, and could be a risk of needle-stick injuries for the person administering the vaccine. These injuries may be exacerbated by the freedom of movement provided in group housing.

Intramuscular vaccines that are administered at the site of invasion – such as the nasal passages, gut and reproductive tract – have the potential to be more effective against pathogens targeting those sites. In addition, a needle-free approach for livestock complements the use of group housing systems. Oral vaccines administered in water or feed are a popular needle-free vaccination route because they are safe to administer and have lower labour costs. Unfortunately, it is frequently difficult to achieve protective immunity through the oral route and control the dose administered to each animal.

As an alternative, Wilson and her team are investigating intrauterine immunization – administering vaccines directly into the pig uterus during artificial insemination.

“Incorporating vaccination into a current husbandry practice is critical for acceptance by the industry,” said Wilson. “We are trying to develop an alternative, safe and labour-reducing approach that will protect pigs from infectious disease.”

Disease protection could extend beyond PED

Wilson anticipates intrauterine vaccines can protect against reproductive diseases to prevent fetal death and improve the health of the sow, as well as diseases that impact piglet survival after birth. While intrauterine vaccines do not directly immunize fetuses, the sow’s antibodies are passed down to her piglets when they suckle.

Vaccines are carefully formulated so that they do not harm sperm function following insemination or jeopardize sow fertility but instead protect sows against reproductive diseases. Further, by administering the vaccine into the uterus, antibodies are delivered to the piglets through colostrum and milk after the sow farrows. These antibodies can improve piglet health and growth potential by protecting them against neonatal diseases.

The team developed and tested a vaccine against PED, which can cause high rates of piglet mortality. Trial results indicate the intrauterine-vaccinated sows farrowed healthy piglets with no adverse effects on fertility or piglet growth. In addition, the vaccinated sows had significant levels of antibodies against PED in their blood, uterine tissue and colostrum. The colostral antibodies were taken up by the piglets during suckling, and they provided the piglets with a modest level of protection against PED infection.

Wilson and her team are now working on improving the vaccine formulation so that piglets will be fully protected against PED. They are working with collaborators to encapsulate the vaccine with much stronger ingredients to protect semen from degradation. Once the vaccines are delivered to the uterus, they will hopefully trigger a stronger immune response that leads to increased colostral antibodies to protect piglets.

“We have evidence that intrauterine immunization may be an effective alternative route of delivery for vaccines,” said Wilson. “This could be a safer route of immunization that saves on labour without requiring special training to administer.”

The team intends to expand research beyond PED to investigate whether intrauterine immunization can protect suckling piglets against other neonatal diseases, such as those caused by rotavirus and Escherichia coli (E. coli). The approach could also be applied to other livestock industries that use artificial insemination for breeding.

By Carly Rundle & Becca Brattain

Editor’s note: Carly Rundle is an animal feed consultant for KWS Cereals USA. She can be contacted at carly.rundle@kws.com. Becca Brattain is the country manager for KWS Cereals USA. She can be contacted at becca.brattain@kws.com.

With recent changes in environmental conditions across the prairies, farmers are looking for a crop that can thrive in extreme climates. Winter hardiness, drought resistance and disease tolerance rank as some of the top characteristics they look for in a crop, and what some have found is hybrid rye.

Hybrid rye is a fall-planted winter cereal that is harvested in mid-summer. Bred for its high yields, ergot resistance and standability, hybrid rye produces high-quality grain and greater yields compared with conventional rye varieties. Pairing that with the fact that this is a low-input crop, needing 20 per cent less water than winter wheat, it is a perfect fit for the region.

Self-sufficiency matters for Upland Colony

Upland Colony is one such farm that recently found hybrid rye. Located near Artesian, South Dakota, they have developed an interest in diversifying their crop rotation to improve soil health and increase annual crop yields. Upland Colony is one of many Hutterite colonies in the area, and they focus on holistic farming – raising livestock, producing manufactured goods and striving to be as self-sufficient as possible.

Ken Wurtz, the farm manager at Upland Colony, has been planting hybrid rye for a few years now.

“I’m impressed by its ability to suppress weeds, its drought tolerance, its low fertilizer requirements, and disease tolerance,” said Ken.

Given the ease they had in growing hybrid rye, Ken’s next mission was to find out how best to use it.

The natural option was to sell to the distilling market. However, when faced with an on-farm corn shortage in 2022, he and Cornelius Wurtz, the hog manager at Upland Colony, became very interested in the opportunity to incorporate hybrid rye into their swine diets.

Previous research conducted at the University of Illinois concluded that the crude protein in hybrid rye ranges from eight to 12 per cent, with 0.25 grams per kilogram of digestible lysine. The total dietary fibre content is around 18 per cent, and the metabolizable energy content is estimated to be 3,150 kilocalories per kilogram when fed to growing pigs. Additional work by the University of Illinois and South Dakota State University (SDSU) has shown that, altogether, hybrid rye has an attractive nutrient profile that fits extremely well in all stages of swine diets.

Upon hearing these results, interest at Upland Colony grew, and they started developing a plan to get further use out of their rye beyond selling it to the distilling market. In collaboration with their swine nutritionist, and with support from the research team at SDSU, they developed a plan to begin incorporating hybrid rye into their sow diets.

Testing the rye diet on-farm

After careful consideration, Upland Colony decided to start including hybrid rye in their sow diets in September 2022, at 20 per cent of the total ration for gestating and lactating sows. They wanted to better understand how to process and handle this new feedstuff and get a clearer idea on how their hogs consumed and performed with it in their diets.

When asked how the sows were performing with hybrid rye, Cornelius was quick to brag.

“Hybrid rye is as good as or better than corn,” said Cornelius. “They eat it well, it digests well, and we are weaning some heavy pigs”.

Compared with feeding sows a standard diet, adding hybrid rye did not influence feed intake, as sows fed with and without hybrid rye reached their optimal targets. After the success of incorporating hybrid rye into sow diets, they were excited to see just what else hybrid rye could do.

To test it out, Cornelius set up their nursery barns so that one barn was fed a traditional corn-based diet that did not contain hybrid rye, and the other barn was fed a diet with five per cent hybrid rye in the diet during the first week, continuing with seven per cent for the remainder of the nursery period.

The nursery pigs that were fed hybrid rye had a feed-to-gain ratio of 1.32, whereas pigs that were not fed hybrid rye had a feed-to-gain of 1.56, indicating that feeding hybrid rye is more efficient than feeding a diet without it. Based on these results, Ken and Cornelius plan to continue including hybrid rye in their swine rations and are eager to keep seeing all the benefits that hybrid rye has to offer their farm.

Results show cost savings

Currently, feed costs make up the largest portion of a livestock producer’s budget. Input costs for hybrid rye are substantially lower than corn. With lower seed, fertilizer, chemicals, fuel, labour and drying costs, the direct cost of producing hybrid rye is estimated to be around USD $225.25 per acre (CAD $302.97) compared to USD $498.06 per acre (CAD $669.91) producing corn based on averages in the U.S. Midwest region (Table 1).

Even though hybrid rye has slightly less metabolizable energy concentration than corn, the cost per 1,000 megacalories of energy is USD $5.15 (CAD $6.93) less when feeding hybrid rye than with corn. This means that, ultimately, the producer is spending less for the same amount of energy used by the pig.

In a time when feed costs are high and hog margins are low, replacing corn with hybrid rye may be a solution to consider for an integrated farm to maximize profits. The benefits can be seen from the time of sowing the seed to bringing the pigs to market. With improvements in feed efficiency observed in the sow barns and the nursery, Upland Colony has had great success incorporating hybrid rye into their swine diets and say that they are looking forward to continuing this practice for years to come.

By Andrew Heck

As consumers continue to wait impatiently for Canada’s largest grocers to pony up with an explanation – and a solution – for high food prices, some smaller, regional companies are taking advantage of the collective discontent and working to bridge the gap between producers, processors and retailers.

In Alberta, Sunterra Market and Freson Bros. are two examples of grocers looking to make a positive difference by not only drawing on their direct connections to local pigs and pork but also by competing with the big guys on price – a challenging yet principled approach to business.

This summer, Sunterra Market and Freson Bros. worked with Alberta Pork to conduct activities under the banner of ‘June is Pork Month,’ including the use of special in-store promotions, contest giveaways and mainstream media to leverage the opportunity to win shoppers over and have them think differently about not only where their food comes from, but where it’s most affordable and accessible.

For Alberta Pork, the initiative was an opportunity to reach consumers who may have limited knowledge of the sector, to enhance their understanding of how pork makes it from farm to fork, and what that means for producers.

Sunterra’s vertical integration creates efficiencies

The Sunterra Group includes ownership of multiple farms across Alberta, in addition to a federally inspected slaughter facility, a further-processing facility for cured products and a handful of retail outlets in the province’s largest cities: Edmonton, Red Deer and Calgary.

More than four decades ago, hog farmer Stan Price began to blaze a trail that has blossomed into a fully vertically integrated system of producing pigs and processing pork, which is sold domestically and internationally, providing a strong position for the entire company, which remains closely tied to the Price family.

“Our company has an incredible commitment to growing, producing and retailing the best quality foods for Albertans. We are committed to feeding our communities well,” said Kristi Mehr, Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Sunterra Market. “We think our company has a great Alberta-based story, and we want Albertans to know it. Looking at where our pigs and pork come from, we have a lot of people behind that, and they’re the best ambassadors for it.”

Last month, at all of its nine retail outlets, Sunterra set aside each weekend to celebrate ‘June is Pork Month,’ including a Value Pork Pack for $49, featuring more than five kilograms of fresh chops, ribs and tenderloins, perfect for BBQ season, but also a great opportunity to tie the offer back to the Sunterra story. A comparative analysis of similar products in the marketplace, at that time, suggests the package cost around 40 per cent less than what competitors were selling.

The package was offered to Sunterra Market’s loyalty members first, for pre-ordering and picking up the limited supplies. After those orders were filled, any remaining packs were made available for purchase by anyone who happened to frequent their stores. It was a smash hit.

“Sales volumes for the Value Pork Pack were outstanding,” said Mehr. “We’re humbled by the support of our engaged customers and their commitment to support local. We’ve had many customers thank us for the opportunity to enjoy savings while also receiving the highest-quality pork around.”

As part of the weekend festivities at each location, other local food vendors whose products are carried by Sunterra were invited to join and give out free samples. To help spread the word about the events, Sunterra also sought the help of local news media in Red Deer, after the company opened its first store there just a few years ago.

But a story alone is not a compelling enough value proposition for many consumers. While Sunterra’s advantage in this area is clear, the company acknowledges that the current high-price environment, and assumptions about its status as a regional retailer, creates additional barriers.

When it comes to keeping costs low, in theory, volume matters. Large grocery chains will almost always win when it comes to certain generic packaged goods found on its shelves, but when it comes to fresh food, like meat, there’s a lot more at play.

Sunterra’s shortened supply chain means a more direct connection to the source and how products arrive in-store, which equals fewer costs to pass down to consumers. Not only is Sunterra’s pork lower in price to what a shopper might find somewhere else, it’s arguably better-quality and certainly more obvious where it comes from. As a result of their efforts, they’ve examined the margin from farm gate to consumer plate and have taken a bold position to offer the best pricing on individual cuts within their meat departments, reducing prices across the board to maintain this edge in the long-term.

Given the success of last month’s efforts, the company intends to ride the momentum well into the summer and fall by creating more deals to attract customers.

“We don’t just want this to be a one-and-done,” said Mehr. “We want to keep showcasing these great products while also remembering that times are tight, and people are concerned about their grocery bills.”

By using the company’s own pigs and pork, Sunterra has effectively cut middlemen out of the equation, which translates into price flexibility for consumers without sacrificing the attributes they want: healthy, tasty pork raised right around the corner. Unlike large-volume retailers, which will purchase pork from practically any available source at any time, based on the best possible margins, Sunterra hopes to continue punching above their weight when it comes to returning value to its customers and supporting the people who make Alberta-raised pigs and Alberta-processed pork possible.

Freson’s province-first approach inspires pride

Across the Canadian pork value chain, spreading the ‘eat local’ message can be difficult. For more than 99 per cent of Canadian pigs, which enter into the federally inspected system, a pig on-farm in one province can be shipped to another for slaughter, and then, most of that pork leaves the country.

But for Freson Bros., with 16 locations across Alberta, purchasing pigs through federal plants brings with it on-farm and in-plant quality assurance guarantees, along with a reliable supply that may not exist with smaller abattoirs, while still adhering to a consistent narrative that the company’s fresh pork is, indeed, local.

“We like to make it known all over our stores and in our flyers that we sell fresh Alberta pork and only Alberta pork,” said Brian Petty, Meat and Seafood Director, Freson Bros. “It’s really important to our customers and upholds the philosophy behind everything we do.”

To help gain some momentum for ‘June is Pork Month,’ Freson Bros. worked with Alberta Pork to acquire prize packages for all its stores, featuring high-end BBQs and other items, which were given away based on fresh pork purchases made by loyalty members. These giveaways were promoted in Freson Bros.’ flyer during the first week of June, further amplified using TV ads in the Edmonton market.

Freson Bros. places a lot of pride in its offerings, which go above and beyond what most major grocers are prepared to deliver. The company’s in-store butchering capacities include expertly cut fresh pork, along with house-made sausages, ham and bacon – products that customers can purchase and cook themselves or find already prepared in Freson Bros.’ restaurants, at various locations.

Freson Bros.’ presence in many smaller and remote communities drives home the importance of what many of its customers value. By sticking to their commitments, it enhances not only customer understanding and appreciation but also, perhaps, keeps them shopping closer to home, rather than running off to the city to chase down a deal.

Producers and processors need supportive retailers

Across Canada, conscientious retailers like Sunterra Market and Freson Bros. can be found everywhere, often overshadowed by the dense proliferation of stores operating under various names, owned by multi-billion-dollar giants like Loblaw, Empire, Metro, Costco and Walmart, which have effectively gobbled up the majority of market share. And while these retailers, too, may sell Canadian pork quite frequently, they have a habit of not making that totally clear, and it’s far from certain.

While exports have undoubtedly formed a solid foundation for the pork value chain for years, our reliance on overseas markets can sometimes conflict with the idea that Canadian-raised pigs and Canadian-processed pork sold in Canadian-owned retail outlets is truly focused on Canadian consumers. For the average domestic consumer, understanding the business side of agri-food is often confusing, which creates blind spots and adds to frustrations.

The Verified Canadian Pork (VCP) program, which is intertwined with the Canadian Pork Excellence (CPE) program, aims to set the record straight in Canada and around the world.

“VCP lets domestic and foreign buyers know that all of the pork coming from Canada is high-quality, safe and meets or exceeds their expectations,” said Jeremy Yim, Domestic Marketing Manager, Canada Pork. “VCP captures everything good about our pigs, how they’re processed, and what that means for those who eat the pork.”

Yim has been working with provincial pork producer organizations to support their consumer marketing efforts, through the creation of point-of-sale materials extoling the virtues of VCP through attractive products like recipe cards, brochures and instructional videos.

Timed with Alberta Pork’s ‘June is Pork Month’ activities, Canada Pork worked with Alberta Pork, Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork to develop and distribute materials to Federated Co-op food stores – more than 100 total across western Canada – often located in settings with just a couple thousand people each. The materials include QR codes for shoppers to easily access content on their mobile phones, showing how to prepare various pork-based dishes at home.

“VCP-branded materials not only inspire consumers to be creative and think differently about their food, but they help transmit the positive messages about the program,” said Yim. “By offering consumers something helpful and interesting, the goal is to get them to pick pork over something else.”

Thanks to the power of collaboration and combining resources, Canada Pork’s line-of-sight to the Canadian Pork Council’s (CPC) producer members and the Canadian Meat Council’s (CMC) processing members places the organization at a critical crossroads for brokering relationships at both ends of the value chain, which is needed now more than ever.

When consumers win, we all win

Much discussion has been had about the inherent pricing disparities between producers, processors and retailers. While it is always a matter of perspective, from wherever you happen to view the situation, a united front is clearly the most valuable offense we can provide in the face of growing consumer defense, which includes stingy purchasing habits.

On the basis of price by weight, and the nutritional value provided, meat is often wrongly assumed to be an expensive option relative to other types of food, which bodes badly for everyone in the sector, unless minds can be changed.

It’s no secret that consumers are highly price-conscious, over and above all of the great stories and marketing claims behind their food. As we look to become increasingly more effective at sharing why Canadian pork is the best in the world, we cannot get too stuck in the intangible side of things that are easily overlooked by those who buy the end product.

Sympathy for producer concerns around high input costs and low pig prices, processor concerns around labour issues and political tensions, and retailer concerns around narrow margins are, frankly, less important to the average Canadian than his or her own financial standing. Overcoming the complex internal value chain disputes is fundamental to its overall success, and thanks to the efforts of everyone involved, there should be no question it is both essential and possible, with the right focus.