Rick Bergmann, president of the Canadian Pork Council on behalf of Canada’s 7,000 pork producers, urged the Federal government to make targeted enhancements to fix AgriStability. Hog producers face unprecedented volatility and loss due to COVID-19, and fixing AgriStability is essential to help farmers stay in business as they struggle to produce a high-quality, affordable protein that Canadian families want and need.  
With outbreaks of African Swine Fever in many countries and now Germany makes for two-pronged government help for this struggling industry. Two-pronged to enhance a protective system to keep ASF out of Canada and secondly to help the struggling sector, which would general 25 billion dollars annually to the Canadian economy.  
Bergmann said many countries have succumbed to ASF, which has devastated the producers and the production in those countries. With the latest case of ASF in Germany causing many countries to ban exports from that country, forcing the German hog industry to react has Bergmann and the Canadian hog industry concerned.  
“We need to do whatever we can in preventative measures because we know the cure is so much more costly than the prevention,” he said. “If it comes to Canada, it will devastate a lot of family farms. That’s our concern, where we’re talking with the federal government and the minister of agriculture to the critical importance of being fully engaged with the pork sector.” 

The Canadian industry struggles to stay afloat because of the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the ASF in Germany, forcing China to look elsewhere for pork equivalent to six million hogs.  
Bergmann said China buys astutely. There are 90 to 100 different countries around the world that are knocking on Canada’s pork door. 
“We need to step it up to ensure we can prevent African Swine Fever from entering Canada.” 
He said the current hog price of breakeven at $165 to 170 a hog isn’t as bad as weanling producers getting $10 per weanling and losing much money. The producers already spend millions of dollars on biosecurity. Between ASF and COVID-19, many challenges and in Canada, the hog industry is part of economic gain if a government helps.  
The year 2020 was supposed to be a positive year for the thousands of farm families that produce pork. Following years of market disruption, driven by factors outside of their control, such as the US-China trade war, market fundamentals improved, and it looked like it would be a profitable year. Then COVID-19 hit. After a brief period of sharp price increases for their hogs, producers saw some of the steepest, most profound declines the market has ever recorded.  
“Forecasts made in June 2020 project that pork producers will lose $20/hog for every hog they sell in 2020. For Canadian pork producers, the total loss will be more than $500 million,” said the Canadian Pork Council president. “The impact of COVID-19, including the increased volatility of the markets and the other risks that farmers face, are not felt equally by all producers.” 
For example, vertically integrated producers and processors can mitigate some of the market volatility. Other producers can use private risk management tools, like hedging, but these tools’ availability and accessibility are limited. Regional differences also impact producers in various ways.  
“For example, Quebec prices hogs differently than the rest of the country, mitigating the impact of COVID-19, but even that system is under pressure,” said Bergmann. “For Western Canadian producers, there is extreme volatility and loss and will likely lose more than $45 a hog compared to the five-year average. Losses for isowean producers, those that sell piglets can be even more significant.” 
That is why the imperative is so great to fix AgriStability. It is supposed to support producers who need it most when they need it most. Unfortunately, it is a broken program that offers too little support to make a difference when farmers face a financial disaster like they are with COVID-19.  
Bergmann said there is a growing consensus that hog farmers will feel the pandemic’s impacts for years to come.  
“Producers need to know that the government will be a partner with them throughout the entire period of increased volatility and loss,” he said. “Therefore, the government must make these critical, targeted changes for the remaining two years of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership program. Inaction will severely impact the 25-billion-dollar industry and the hundred thousand Canadians employed in the pork value chain.”  •
— By Harry Siemens
See Rick Bergmann letter on behalf of
Canadian Pork Council in it’s entirety on page 20.