A partner with Polar Pork Farms said a new Saskatchewan-based cull sow slaughtering plant will reduce the cost of shipping sows to slaughter, minimizing the risk of transmitting disease from one country to another and avoid the complications that result from border closures. 
Construction of the new North 49 cull sows slaughtering plant in Moose Jaw by Donald’s Fine Foods is nearing completion. 
Florian Possberg, a partner with Polar Pork Farms, said it’s good news anytime an industry could increase its structure. 
Most of the cull sows from Saskatchewan go to the U.S.. Some are going to southern Manitoba. However, having a significant plant in Moose Jaw is good news for producers in Saskatchewan because it reduces freight costs to slaughter. 
“More importantly, by taking the border risk out of the equation, there’s a lot of diseases where our cull sows go into the U.S. that have the potential to be dragged back on dirty trailers and that sort of stuff, so we eliminate significant disease risk,” said Possberg.  
And borders can close in a heartbeat and having a plant right here in Saskatchewan significantly reduces border risk.  
“Several good reasons why that is good news for us and our industry so we’re just anxiously waiting for that plant to open.” 
Adding to the infrastructure and that Donald’s is making a significant investment there instills confidence in the Saskatchewan pig industry.  
But on the negative Possberg said high barn construction costs are limiting growth.  
“The cost of replacing facilities built 15 to 20 years ago is four times higher and if we are to maintain a viable industry, at some point we’ll have to start replacing older facilities.” 
Possberg said the conflict in Ukraine continues to influence feed grain prices contributing to reduced profitability for pork producers and higher food costs for consumers. 
High feed costs continue to erode profitability in the agriculture sector and contribute to food inflation. 
He said market prices for hogs could have been better but feed costs remain high so this is not a particularly profitable time in the pork sector. 
High feed costs spurred in part by the conflict in Ukraine threw a wrench into the whole outlook for world cereal supplies.  
“It seems like that is baked into the cake now. Although production in Ukraine will be off substantially globally, we’ll hopefully get back to better-growing conditions in the U.S., and South America will continue to increase their supplies.” 
There is some softening in feed grain costs but they are still historically very high; it’s not as high as a year ago so that’s positive. 
Possberg acknowledged food inflation is a real challenge, especially for low-income families. However, the food supply generally and the pork supply specifically will be enough that it won’t cause significant shortages and hopefully, the inflation in food will soften somewhat. •
— By Harry Siemens