When pork producers and provincial senior staff from across Canada virtually met recently as part of the Canadian Pork Council’s (CPC) fall members’ meeting they reelected Rick Bergmann, a producer from Manitoba as chairman.  
The next day Bergman addressed the fall producer meetings of the Manitoba Pork Council. Always promoting and putting the Canadian pork industry in a positive light addressed a fundamental question.  
“I believe we need to be successful, but where is that happy medium, and without that, that’s a risk factor that makes a lot of people uncomfortable.” 
A long-standing question as the industry continues to morph into a change in some ways better, maybe in some ways not so good. Nationally five billion dollars worth of pork leaves Canada every year because of the excellent work producers in Manitoba and every province do on their farms. There are continual improvement mechanisms in place as well, which is super. 
Bergman said the CPC who represents 7,000 Canadian pork producers at the national level is essential and rewarding contributing $25 billion annually making it a vital contributor to the country’s economy.  
Pre-COVID the Canadian industry represented in Tokyo to 350 different buyers on Canadian pork.  
“I mean, they were all ears and all eyes. They loved the story, the country and the pork. So that’s something that we have to build on.” 
His rhetorical question to Manitoba producers is how to supply that market while getting on the ride, economically too. The focus has to be fair trade and looking at Canadian pricing policy or pricing to see if the CPC can establish something that way.  
“For sure, not an easy task but discussions continue with many different processors across the country.” 
With new barns going up it’s a game-changer, folks. In the last go-around of building barns, the numbers were a lot different. Now the level of required capital for sure the income has to match that.  
“I want to let you folks know that the Canadian Pork Council perspective is that there’s a continual drive, continual discussions and no it’s not easy. However, the industry must continue with these producer forums even in a Zoom forum because they’re super.  
“If you have ideas and thoughts of how to make the sector better, those need to get put in the hopper at Manitoba Pork Council because the staff there and the directors are very engaged.” 
On a daily WhatsApp hog industry forum, Bergman expressed how important the launching and recently gazetted of establishing the Canadian Pork Promotion and Research Agency (PPRA) is.  
The PPRA will be an essential vehicle for producers – it will help facilitate even greater collaboration across the value chain through increased research and promotion activities. In the long run, it will improve the long-term growth and competitiveness of the sector.  
“This is BIG for Canadian pork producers using the funds for research and pork promotion! This is not a cost to producers – a 100 per cent WIN.” Explaining how the small fee comes off pork exported into Canada from other countries.  •
— By Harry Siemens