The demise of the red meat sector would have far reaching implications for Island agriculture and, by extension, the provincial economy.
The loss of local markets for feed stock would severely handcuff the ability to continue environmentally sustainable crop rotations. The disappearance of livestock manure would increase the need of chemical fertilizers and increase the potential for soil run-off, due to the loss of organic matter from both waste and feed grain plow down.
Where is the hog industry headed? The Maritime region is in a more perilous situation than the rest of Canada. They are struggling to maintain processing capacity due to a significant loss of supply.
Over half of the provincial herd disappeared as a result of the recent national Cull Breeding Swine Program. Nova Scotia lost virtually all its market hog production, compared to peak production earlier this decade. This leaves P.E.I. as the major supplier of market hogs to Nova Scotia packinghouses, with Larsen Packers having to go outside the region to source animals.
A recent announcement by the federal government that is providing funding for more producers to exit the industry is not good news for the Maritimes. The larger producing central and western provinces, who previously exported most of their live hogs south of the border, need to cut back significantly if the industry is to survive. Unfortunately, this national initiative is basically a regional program designed for the west. Ultimately, it could finish the ability of the Maritimes to continue to produce pork locally.
Atlantic Canada is not self sufficient in pork or beef. The inevitability of escalating transportation costs lends itself to a trend of reverse globalization, and the potential of the region being unable to feed itself. If we do not act now to save our resource base and infrastructure, we may be saddled with a financially insurmountable task of trying to rebuild it in a few years time.
Discussions began in October of 2008 towards developing a regional approach for the red meat industry. A series of meetings were held with federal and provincial officials leading to the creation of the Maritime Feed Grain & Red Meat Working Group in April.
Since that time, work has been done to develop strategies for cattle producers in each of the Maritime provinces. A similar document is now being compiled for the pork industry. It is expected this group will reconvene this fall to begin the process of bringing each of the strategies together into a regional plan.
That document will provide the parameters for a pilot project designed to sustain the red meat sectors, until a long term plan can be implemented. The goal is to provide resilience and sustainability to not only the grains and red meat production, but ultimately the broader agriculture industry. It’s about acting as a Maritime community, value adding and buying locally on a commercial scale.