The 45th annual Banff Pork Seminar moving its venue from the Banff Centre to the Banff Springs Hotel and Conference Centre proved a huge success with just shy of 700 people coming to a central place to network, learn, and discuss.

Many topics up for discussion both public, as part of the meeting, and privately in the halls, made for a great conference to interview people from many places, interact and engage re anything and everything about the hog industry and beyond.

Up as one of the keynote speakers, Michael McCain, the president and CEO of Maple Leaf who says all segments of the industry have a role to play in providing consumers accurate transparent information on what’s being done to ensure the sustainability of food production. McCain says society’s interest in responsible consumption has changed markedly in the past five years and consumers want to spend their food dollars on products that not just provide sustenance and nutrition but are also provided in responsible ways for the care of the environment and society.

“Consumers today, particularly the millennial generation, derive most of their information from social media and digital media content,” he said. “That’s not a bad thing but it is subject to some variation in the accuracy of the information. That’s not just a factor of our industry. That’s all industry and all circumstances.”

McCain says the challenge is always to do a great job in doing the best to correct the record, making sure that even in the presence of misinformation do the level best to provide accurate information and make good judgments based on that.

“I think all segments of the industry, in all levels in the industry, from our retail food service customer base through to processors, producers, suppliers and indeed the government need to collaborate on providing a coordinated response to, in one hand a challenge but even more importantly is a great opportunity because Canada has demonstrated leadership in these areas,” he said. “To date we are recognized as North American leaders and we can take what might appear to be a challenge and convert it into a tremendous opportunity for growth being leaders in sustainable meat production in Canada.”

McCain says dealing with social and digital media today is just part of the new reality in every part of life. When this reporter asked him in an exclusive interview about the effects of the repeal of COOL, McCain says the effect will be immediate in opening up the market, but Maple Leaf had paid a competitive price to Canadian producers through the entire COOL ordeal.

“I suspect immediately. I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t have a positive effect immediately. It opens up a valuable market,” he said. “And I think throughout the period of COOL we’ve always sought to pay a competitive price in the Canadian marketplace. So, I would like to think it would have limited or no effect because we are already paying a competitive price in this country.”

McCain says at the end of the day, it is important the whole process in price discovering to have multiple options and so in that regard it will have an immediate effect. In his speech, McCain outlined three different areas of concern for the total industry.

“As an industry we must be vigilant, robust, and proactive in replying to this challenge for example, what is scientific evidence,” he asks. “If you eat two hot dogs a day for the rest of your life, you have a six out of 100 chance of getting rectal cancer. If you eat none, you have a five out of 100 chance. What is reality versus the perception?” The first area McCain focused on is animal welfare and antibiotics. Maple Leaf owned farms and contracted farms will be 100 per cent loose housing by 2022. Maple Leaf is using independent auditors at all farms and is currently the largest single producer of raised without antibiotics animals in North America. Maple Leaf is committed to constructive relations with animal welfare activists.

The second point dealt with the environmental. With 80 pounds of meat eaten per capita globally and growing and the environmental challenges will grow with it.

“Most climate friendly meats are pork and poultry making 10 per cent of the Ag Global Greenhouse Gases,” he said. “The feed efficiency of swine relative to cattle, and sheep makes less of a demand on world grain production while providing meat protein for a growing population. Maple Leaf is committed to cutting its corporate environmental footprint by 25 per cent by 2025.”

McCain sees not only environmental benefits but also financial gains by efficiencies gained from less water usage, general waste, etc.

The Maple Leaf CEO’s speech was a call to arms to face the challenges in the coming years and provided his plan on Maple Leaf’s actions to face the issues. He challenged the rest of the people to think on what their own organizations need to do to adjust to the present and future. •

— By Harry Siemens