An unprecedented crash in meat prices will top the agenda when Alberta Pork calls members together for its Annual General Meeting in Calgary on Nov. 9.
“We’re going to be facing some pretty steep challenges come our AGM date, mostly on pricing, because right now, the futures are looking very poor and our producers are likely going to be losing a lot of money for at least the next four to five months,” executive director Darcy Fitzgerald said from his Edmonton office late in September.
“Prices are just cratering and they’re going down every day. Futures for the date of our AGM are, right now, just over a dollar a kg, so that’s significant. I think the worst it’s ever been in my six years of being here were $1.04, so that’s not good at all.” Fitzgerald said producers and guests attending the AGM will benefit from insight to be shared by Brett Stuart, founding partner in Colorado-based Global AgriTrends, who is among the speakers scheduled for the day’s agenda.
“He’s looking at challenges to meat industry and the agriculture industry worldwide, and he will coin it around what we’re facing in the hog industry, where the grains are at, feed grains futures, all that kind of thing, and give us an idea of what he’s seeing, where the marketplaces are around the world and what our opportunities and challenges might be in the future,” said Fitzgerald.
On the day he spoke with Prairie Hog Country, Fitzgerald said the reasons were unclear for the price collapse, which had already driven a major beef feedlot to wind up its operations in Southern Alberta.
“To see it drop this much, I don’t know what’s going on,” he said.
“There are people making money. I personally, have gone to the store and seen some pretty outrageous prices for pork while the price is snowballing down the hill for producers. I guess that’s part of the problem of having this globally traded product, where there are so many people with their fingers in the pie, determining what the price will be, and it’s not the producer.
“There’s talk of maybe too much supply. At the same time, there’s a serious world demand and we’re seeing record sales from a number of countries going to those marketplaces, so it’s not like we’re not pulling enough pork out of here.
“The other side of it too, there is some more pig production in the U.S. to make up that PED loss of herds in 2015. So, if we look at that, those things are starting to come together and we’re seeing a little more supply in the marketplace.”
Fitzgerald said he heard Alberta’s agriculture and forestry minister state that producers would have to become more innovative and efficient to make up for the money they are losing through a price collapse.
But how much more juice can you get out of a lemon that has already been squeezed dry? “The producer can’t do any more without somebody paying for it. At our AGM, we’re going to look at some of those issues,” said Fitzgerald.
He referred back to a statement that has been his credo since he first joined Alberta Pork: “It’s OK to have fair trade for Juan Valdez and the coffee growers. Why isn’t it OK to have fair trade for local producers?”
Pork producers hear about consumer desires for meat from animals that are humanely raised, free from antibiotics and steroids and have other attributes. But their shopping habits suggest otherwise.
“We (consumers) like the colourful and feel-good concept that we’re getting it from some local guy and we feel good about it, but at the end of the day we really want to get that stuff that’s coming from somewhere else for really cheap.”
Fitzgerald cited TV ads by A&W restaurants as a perplexing example.
“When you advertise that you’ve got all of those things plus you’ve made it cheaper, really, what does that mean? It means somebody else is eating the cost, and it works to just put people out of business, that’s all.”
There are additional fears about what Alberta’s new carbon levy will cost producers when it comes into effect on Jan. 1.
At the end of the day, those costs come at the producers’ expense, so it’s up to Albertan and Canadian producers and their industry to engage the public to help find ways to raise and market the meat products they want at prices that are fair to everyone.
“For us at Alberta Pork, part of our strategy in speaking about that, really, how do we engage the community so they understand that?” says Fitzgerald. “We’ve helped to put a pork product on the shelf. I think, now, we need to engage the whole community a bit more to understand, when you’ve got a food supply, it won’t be here forever if it’s not looked after.” Fitzgerald gives Alberta’s NDP government a fairly low mark for engaging the public in discussing issues, stating that the province’s 340 hog producers are not getting the respect they deserve.
“Where’s the consultation? Where is the occasional phone call? Where’s the ‘work with us?’ The staff have tried their best. We just want to make sure that the politicians do too,” said Fitzgerald. “This is an important industry. We don’t represent a lot of votes, but really, it touches a lot of people in this province.” The hog industry is a major employer in two of Alberta’s largest cities – Lethbridge and Red Deer – as well as in the Town of Trochu, and is the major supplier to the top three processers in BC, where the number of active hog farms is down to 20. “The number of people actually producing food in this country is getting smaller all the time, and it has a big impact on the economy,” said Fitzgerald. While he would like to see more recognition for the industry, Fitzgerald acknowledged that pork producers have benefited from help available through the first two iterations of Growing Forward and are looking forward to the development of Growing Forward 3. “Our guys have really taken up with those programs and made some key changes on their farms,” said Fitzgerald.
“We’re sitting in a place where it costs so much to build a new building and getting so little in return – it’s almost prohibitive. So we’re having to look at our existing buildings and ways to make them more efficient and upgrade them and do things.
Growing Forward programs have really helped, especially where we’re looking at other things, too – disease issues, the whole side of bio-security. Really, hats off to the folks at Alberta Agriculture that have helped us with Growing Forward and the bio-security programs especially,” he said.
Speakers invited to address the AGM will expand on those issues and there will be additional presentations on Alberta Pork’s updated strategic plan, which has resulted in some changes in staff.
Late in summer, Alberta Pork announced that it replaced three key positions, letting the staff in those positions go and recruiting new people for the three jobs that were created.
Fitzgerald had hoped that, by the time of the AGM, he would be able to introduce all three of the new people being sought. The communications role, previously held by Geoff Geddes, was revamped to include more engagement outside the industry’s sphere, including government and consumers. Also gone are marketing manager Karen Gurba and administrative assistant Loreen Riley.
Their positions have been replaced by a quality assurance specialist and a corporate co-ordinator. The quality assurance person is being sought to work alongside quality assurance co-ordinator Javier Bahamon, who will be spending more of his time conducting farm visits to help resolve issues and deliver various programs offered through Alberta Pork.
The new corporate co-ordinator will work inside the organization, helping with communications, special projects, regulatory issues and events management. Fitzgerald encourages producers to attend the AGM, both to update themselves on what has taken place in the past year and to engage in conversation with each other and their board.
The 2016 AGM is scheduled for Nov. 9 at the Carriage House in Calgary, starting with registration at 9:30 a.m. and followed by presentations, lunch, a business meeting and additional presentations. The day wraps up with hors ‘oeuvres and cocktails. A detailed agenda and will be published on the producer pages at albertapork.com and producers can always call the office, 780-474-8288 with questions and suggestions. •
— By Brenda Kossowan
