Alberta Pork Congress
The 43rd Alberta Pork Congress will be in Red Deer at Westerner Park on June 14 & 15, 2017.
The trade show is totally sold out.
Following set up on Tuesday June 13th, Swine & Cheese will be on the trade show floor from 6 – 8pm for exhibitors. The trade show floor is open
Wednesday June 14 from 9am – 4:30pm. Followed by the Awards Banquet Dinner at the Harvest Centre starting with a reception at 5:30pm , dinner at 6:30pm. Awards will be presented throughout the evening.
Thursday June 15th the trade show floor is open 9am – 4pm. Immediately after is the Almost Famous Barbeque right in the Parkland Pavilion 4 – 6pm.
For details on or about Alberta Pork Congress check albertaporkcongress.com or call Kimberly Nield trade show coordinator at 403.244.7821 kimberly@conventionall.com •
Ontario Pork Congress
Stratford will play host for the annual Ontario Pork Congress June 21 & 22,2017 For details and information check out porkcongress.on.ca •
Porkapalooza
Alberta Pork is proud to be the title sponsor again this year for the 4th annual Porkapalooza.
What is Porkapalooza?
The Porkapalooza BBQ Festival is a community event showcasing the art and culture of BBQ. It is organized by the Porkapalooza BBQ Festival Society with generous financial support from Alberta Pork and help from our event team Mison Consulting and EKG Entertainment. At its heart, it is a BBQ competition but encompasses all the components of a festival with local food trucks, beer gardens, food demonstration stage, a Kids Zone playground and plenty of entertainment. The Porkapalooza BBQ Festival Society is a charitable society with a mandate to end hunger and therefore will be sponsoring a number of food-related charities. The fourth annual Porkapalooza 2017 will be held June 10th & 11th at Northlands in Edmonton.
See you at the Big Meat Up.
For details and information check out the website www.porkapalooza.ca •
Alberta Livestock Expo
A new trade show will take place in Lethbridge AB at Exhibition Park on Thursday October 12th.
This new trade show will be a multispecies event, welcoming all aspects of the agriculture industry for the one day show.
Booth registration and more details will be available at albertalivestockexpo.com or by contacting Lisa Doyle, Exhibition Manager at 403.305.1563 or lisa@vibranteventmanagement.ca •
Aherne Awards
Do you know of an innovator who should be recognized? Someone who has developed an original solution to answer a pork production challenge? Or found a creative use of a known technology?
The Banff Pork Seminar is proud to offer a chance for you to “strut your stuff” as a technology innovator and show the rest of us how to put it into practice!
The Dr. FX Aherne Prize for Innovative Pork Production recognizes innovators involved in the pork industry who are making a difference by applying new technologies or management techniques.
Innovators can win valuable prizes and free registration to the 2018 Banff Pork Seminar, January 9-11; you’ll be recognized by your peers and the pork industry and have a chance to present your solution at the 2018 Banff Pork Seminar.
Please nominate yourself, or apply on behalf of an innovator that deserves to be recognized. Help us to find these innovators and encourage them to apply for the Dr. FX Aherne Prize for Innovative Pork Production. Specifically, we are looking for innovators who are capable of taking a new research concept, a technology, or even a management concept and apply it successfully in the production of pork. Innovations may be related to, but are not limited to, one of the following areas: Productivity, Profitability, Working Conditions, Animal Well Being, Reduced Environmental Impact, Pork Quality and Safety.
Anyone who has developed a solution to a pork production challenge may enter. Innovations must be relevant to North American pork production but do not necessarily have to be currently in use in Canada at the time of application. Application and more information will be available online at www.banffpork.ca. Applications must be received by October 31, 2017.
Apply today! Please contact Conference Coordinator Ashely Steele at pork@ualberta.ca with questions. •
Red Deer Swine Technology Workshop
The planning has begun for the annual Red Deer Swine Technology Workshop. The annual one day workshop will take place in Red Deer at the Sheraton Wednesday October 18th . Mark your calendars. Registration will be open soon. More details will be available in the August September edition. •
APC AGM
The Alberta Pork Congress Annual General Meeting will once again be held as a breakfast meeting prior to the start of Red Deer Swine Technology Workshop Wednesday October 18th.
At the AGM elections will take place for new members for the Board of Directors. Once the meeting has concluded this will be the first opportunity to book your booth space for the 2018 Alberta Pork Congress Tradeshow.
Watch your inbox and the next edition of Prairie Hog Country for details. •
SASK Pork Symposium
Mark your calendars for the 40th annual Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium. The Symposium will be held Tuesday November 14th and Wednesday November 15th, 2017. As in previous years the Saskatoon Inn in Saskatoon SK will be the venue.
More details will be available in future editions of Prairie Hog Country. •
Brandon Hog & Livestock Show
Brandon Hog & Livestock Show, formally known as Hog Days, will be held in December.
The one day show will be at the Keystone Center in Brandon, MB on Thursday December 14th, 2017.
For details and exhibitor information contact Sunil Kawthekar Ph. 204.726.6482 or Email: Sunil.Kawthekar@gov.mb.ca •
Banff Pork Seminar
Planning is well underway for the 2018 Banff Pork Seminar which will take place January 9 – 11th, 2018. The seminar will be held at the Banff Springs Hotel.
More details and confirmation of when registration will be open will be available in the August September issue of Prairie Hog Country and online at bps.ca. •
Cramer Ag Expo
The 8th annual Cramer Ag Expo will be held in Swift Current at Kentic Park on Thursday February 22nd, 2018. This year the Cramer Cup carcass competition will allow entries from not only Saskatchewan but Alberta and Manitoba too. All meat will be donated to charity.
For details on the Cramer Cup series contact Doug Cramer at 306.520.3553. For details on the trade show contact Kelly Turcotte tradeshow co-ordinator at 306.737.6262 or email kelly_turcotte@hotmail.com •
Accelerated Genetic Progress for Hypor Because of Enormous Increase in DNA Information
Modern animal breeding is a combination of art and science, aimed at improving the next generation of animals. By selecting the best animals, both in genetic value and physical appearance, to become parents of the next generation, on average this next generation will be better, more efficient, more fertile than their parents. A relatively new tool in the animal breeder´s toolbox to estimate the genetic value of an individual is genomic selection.
Genomic selection has caused a revolution in the field of genetics, especially in animal breeding. Genomics results in more accurate breeding values at a much younger age, which enables a more accurate selection for those traits that are measured later in life (e.g. total born) or traits that are difficult to measure on breeding candidates (e.g. carcass or meat quality). Genomic selection allows for a better selection between full sibs, i.e. full brothers or sisters, based on conventional methods these animals would have the same genetic value. All of them receive half of their genes from their father and half of their genes from their mother. Genomic selection tells us exactly which half was received from both parents. This allows for a more accurate estimate of an animal’s genetic value, because we now know which genes have been received from the parents.
At Hypor, genomic selection is implemented for all the breeding lines since a couple of years. For all the lines we use DNA information to get a better estimate of the genetic relationship between individual animals. These more accurate genetic relationships in combination with a multitrait genetic evaluation enables Hypor to make the most use of all available information. The amount of DNA information is ever increasing, as each month candidates from the different breeding lines are being genotyped. The enormous increase in data for each line, but also for each individual, allows for accelerated genetic progress in all traits. •
Alberta Government Introduces Bill 9
Alberta Pork Levies to Remain Unchanged Bill 9, Marketing of Agricultural Products Amendment Act, was introduced to the Alberta legislature on April 11, 2017. Bill 9 allows agriculture commissions to hold a plebiscite to decide if they want their levies to be refundable or non-refundable. This is a move that brings Alberta in line with other provinces and jurisdictions; since 2009, we had been the only province with mandatory refundable levies.
In his statement, Oneil Carlier (Minister of Agriculture and Forestry) said: “With this amendment, government would restore autonomy to agricultural commissions and their members. We want them to have the power to determine their own service-charge model, because a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach doesn’t make sense in today’s diverse agriculture.”
It is Alberta Pork’s position that this decision resides with the producer. Therefore, this is not a priority issue for Alberta Pork. Alberta Pork will not be holding a plebiscite or pursuing a return to a non-refundable levy.
If you have any questions, please contact Darcy Fitzgerald at 780.491.3529. •
Trump Wants to cut Farm Subsidies
United States President Donald Trump wants to cut farm subsidies by $38 billion over the next 10 years, but is already running into stiff opposition.
The companies that market crop insurance said Trump is copying budget cuts proposed by Barrack Obama and others, but Congress has always rejected those cuts.
And the association representing soybean growers said it will fight the proposal to cut price supports
But one of the big cuts is to the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) which helps low-income families buy good nutrition and provides school lunches and similar programs. That program was heavily criticized by the General Accounting Office, which operates in the U.S. much like the Auditor-General in Ottawa. •
— By Jim Romahn
TPP Update
Negotiators are going to try to revive the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, this time without the United States because U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out.
The loss of access to the U.S. market is so important that the deal needs to be re-negotiated.
Japan and New Zealand have been leading the efforts to revive the deal. Both countries have ratified the agreement and moved forward on legislation related to the deal. But Canadian official’s stress that even the country’s most enthusiastic about the previous agreement understand that it must be significantly altered before it can move forward.
Canada’s dairy industry is likely to face even greater pressure now that the U.S. is out because New Zealand and Australia are major dairy exporters operating with minimal government subsidies or supports. The U.S. offers its dairy farmers significant supports.
New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay said the remaining countries are open to others joining provided they accept the trade agreement’s high standards on labour and environmental protection. He said the door remains open to the U.S. It and China would be the biggest prizes.
Supporters of the agreement argue that opening the Canadian economy to foreign markets could benefit sectors including forestry, manufacturing and agriculture, especially production of canola, beef and pork.
But there are also concerns about intellectual property provisions, including patent extensions, as well as the potential for job loss within Canada.
Sujata Dey, trade campaigner for the social action organization The Council of Canadians, called the TPP “a huge corporate power grab” that should be abandoned completely rather than re-worked. The group takes particular issue with the policy’s investor-state dispute settlement, which allows companies to sue governments over any regulations that reduce their profits.
“These trade agreements are old-school because our world problems have changed,” Dey said, citing environmental crises. “Until we stop copying and cutting the old trade agreement that we’ve been doing for the last 30 years, it’s not going to be a trade agreement that works for our new reality.”
In response, a Liberal government official, who did not want to be named, indicated that the concerns of Canadians will be taken into account in formulating a new deal. Trying to sell a new version of the TPP to the public that doesn’t include free and progressive fair trade would be an uphill battle for the federal government, he said. The China-led 16-member Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will meet Monday in Hanoi to further discussions on a separate deal seen as an alternative to the TPP. It is expected to be finalized by the end of this year.
On another front, the European deal with Canada took a step backward when a court ruled that every nation member of the European Union will have a vote on whether to approve the deal.
The issue Dey raised about lawsuits is also controversial in that deal. •
— By Jim Romahn
CPC Pleased with Standing Committee Report on International Market Access
The Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry released its report on international market access for the agriculture and agri-food sector today. The report, Market Access: Giving Canadian Farmers and Processors the World, follows meetings with over 500 witnesses and other stakeholders from across Canada, including the Canadian Pork Council (CPC).
“We are a sector that relies on exports,” Rick Bergmann, a hog producer from Steinbach, Man. and Chair of the CPC’s Board of Directors, told the committee during CPC’s presentation. “In fact, more than two thirds of the hogs produced in Canada are exported as either live hogs or pork products. Market access is not only vital to our industry, it is a fact of life. I know it is important to point out that our success in accessing existing foreign markets is directly linked to the level of cooperation between government and industry.”
Bergmann acknowledged CPC’s recognition that opening or maintaining market access is never easy, but pointed out it must be a priority for government departments like Global Affairs Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
“These departments need the flexibility and a full team with the financial backing to address market access issues,” he said. “Through all trade negotiations, the CPC maintains that Canada needs to be at the negotiating table, especially with high value markets in Asia. Countries like Japan, and the ever-growing demand for food imports in China, are a significant opportunity for Canadian pork producers.
“It’s important for Canada to take every opportunity to secure favourable terms of access to foreign markets, including through new, or expanding existing, trade agreements,” he added, pointing to Canada’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Canada-European Union Trade Agreement as examples.
The CPC is particularly pleased with the following recommendations in the report:
• That the federal government eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade and pursue free trade agreements with other countries • The establishment of a more efficient dispute resolution body under the World Trade Organization • Federal and provincial collaboration of a comprehensive market strategy program that reinforces the Canada brand • Improving access to infrastructure grants for farmers and food processors who want to invest in new technologies and that Employment and Social Development Canada and Immigration and Citizenship Canada create programs that help hire foreign workers to address labour shortages
“We certainly like what we see,” said Bergmann following the report’s release today. “A number of the recommendations are areas that the pork industry believes the government should focus its attention to further strengthen the sector and expand markets.”
Canada’s pork industry produces more than 25.5 million animals a year. It creates 31,000 farm jobs which, in turn, contribute to 103,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs across the country. Those jobs generate $23.8 billion when farms, inputs, processing and pork exports are factored in. In 2016, the pork industry exported over 1 million tonnes of pork and pork products, valued at over $3.2 billion, to 90 countries. •
Finally, Liberals Move on a Food Policy
The Liberals have finally moved to begin consultations towards proclaiming a food policy for Canada.
It’s a goal that farm organizations, and especially the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, have for years been asking the government to develop.
The CFA did develop a food policy and lobbied the federal government to use it as the basis.
Now Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay has announced that the government is ready to consult Canadians directly via an on-line survey. It’s open at is now open at www.canada.ca/food-policy .
It seeks reactions on four themes:
1. increasing access to affordable food;
2. improving health and food safety
3. conserving soil, water, and air; and
4. growing more high-quality food. •
— By Jim Romahn
Manitoba Cold Country Pork Fined
Cold Country Pork Inc. Fined $50,000.00 for an Offence under the Meat Inspection Act
Recently announced that on May 8, 2017, in Manitoba Provincial Court in Winnipeg, Cold Country Pork Inc. entered a guilty plea to one count of contravening subsection 8(a) of the Meat Inspection Act. The company was ordered to pay a fine of $50,000.00.
Subsection 8(a) of the Meat Inspection Act indicates that no person shall send or convey a meat product from one province to another unless it was prepared or stored in a registered establishment that was operated in accordance with this act and the regulations.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) investigation determined that on or between February 12, 2009 and January 14, 2014, Cold Country Pork Inc. shipped various beef, pork and chicken products from Manitoba to Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario that were not prepared or stored in a federal establishment.
The CFIA is responsible for the administration and enforcement of federal legislation, acts and regulations, including the Meat Inspection Act. The CFIA is dedicated to safeguarding food, animal, and plant health, which enhances the health and well-being of Canada’s people, environment, and economy. •
Farmers 2050 Discover What it Really Takes To Feed The World
How will we sustainably feed 9 billion people by the year 2050?
That question is becoming mainstream in agriculture, yet it’s something most youth have never considered.
That is why industry experts and educators collaborated to create Farmers 2050 – the newest virtual farm game on the market – to help teens and adults understand what it really takes to feed the world.
Droughts occur, mortgage payments come due and farm chores never stop.
Players get to plant crops, raise animals and craft goods to sell in a virtual community all the while managing the three pillars of sustainability: environment, economic and social.
Along the way, real farmers from across the world are showing the players what they are actually doing on their farms. Farmers 2050 started in schools as a curriculum-based program called Journey 2050. Both programs teach agriculture using game-based technology. As students explore world food sustainability they make inquiry-based decisions to see the ripple effect on local and global sustainability.
The number one question the students ask after going through Journey 2050 is, ‘Can I download and play this game at home?’ The reality of a school program is there are bell schedules so the game has timers and a limited number of commodities. As a result, Farmers 2050 was created so students could play at home and continue learning about sustainable agriculture.
Farmers 2050 is a unique game that combines reality with virtual reality.
Download and play Farmers 2050 for free on iTunes and Google Play. There are no advertisements or in-app purchases.
Journey 2050 (School Edition) and Farmers 2050 (Home Edition) are free education programs supported by Agrium, Crop Production Services, Calgary Stampede, Alberta Canola Producers Commission, 4-H Canada, Agriculture in the Classroom Canada, National Agriculture in the Classroom (USA), Nutrients for Life (Canada and USA) and Ag for Life. •
