Producers in Alberta should see a smooth transition following a changing of the guard at Alberta Pork. Early in Spring, Lethbridge-area producer Stan Vanessen took the reins from Brent Moen, who had served as chair for the past four years. Moen becomes vice-chair for the final year of his term, which expires after six years of service to the board of directors.
In his first interview with Prairie Hog Country, Vanessen said the board will continue with its current direction, while ramping up its efforts to encourage domestic consumption.
“We want to continue to support producers with the issues they have on farm, with disease prevention and awareness; increased labour difficulties, trying to get labour and retain labour, and also any new research innovations that we can try to get to their operations to make sure that they’re running as efficiently as possible.”
Vanessen said the board has laid plans to invest more money and effort in building domestic markets. He remarked that, while foreign customers seek out premium Canadian pork raised under exceptional production standards, domestic consumers seem unaware of the value and tend to shop for the cheapest pork.
“It’s been a sore point for producers . . . when you see we’re doing all the work here in trying to make sure that we raise our animals in a humane and environmentally conscious manner . . . and the guys at home, in their back yard, are saying they don’t know that this should be a product they should be seeking out rather than just looking at their shopping and saying, ‘Oh, well that’s the cheapest.’”
Alberta Pork and the Canadian Pork Council want to make sure that they’re “telling our story and doing a good job of it,” said Vanessen.
“It’s something that we’re aware of and we’re going to work on. So, if we can just make that a bit of a priority, then we know we’re on the right path.”
Where funding for domestic marketing projects has fallen off in the past, the board will now invest in more projects aimed at enticing consumers to seek out Canadian pork, he said. That would include guiding them into uncharted territory involving different ways to prepare pork and selecting cuts they haven’t tried before to explore new experiences.

Alberta Pork and the CPC have also set out plans to lobby provincial and federal governments to support their efforts to enhance the image of Canadian pork within our borders.
He and Moen both said that an unanticipated profit squeeze that started earlier this year will continue through the short time, with good opportunities for those producers who are able to pull through.
A particularly tough pill to swallow is decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to allow California legislation that will significantly raise the bar in loose housing requirements for pregnant sows. With news of the decision still fresh, it is difficult to predict the impact, said Vanessen.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty, but it does look like the industry is going to have to be moving toward open housing. There are some people that have transitioned already. People that were not planning to transition, if it does get forced on them, they’ll just drop out of the industry.”
Similar impacts are likely to be felt in the US, with a corresponding decrease in production, said Vanessen. With demand for pork continuing in world markets, it is hoped that decreased production will lead to stronger prices and better profits for those producers who are able to stay the course, he said.
Prairie Hog Country asked Moen to address progress – what worked and what still needs work – during his four years at the helm.
He replied that he feels fortunate to work with an “excellent” general manager and staff as well as with a dedicated board of directors. The farms and producers represented on the board come from diverse backgrounds, bringing a wide variety of opinions to the table.
“We’ve gone through some challenging times in the industry, so you have to be objective and you have to look at it realistically. I would say that the board has done a really good job of doing that.”
Among its recent accomplishments, the board has had a focus on business. That includes providing producers with information they need to make good choices in marketing their hogs to packers.
Various contracts and options are much more transparent than in the past, so producers can more accurately assess which options will be best for their farms.
Alberta has also offered producers a cost-of-production tool that enables them to monitor and analyze their costs and assess their competitiveness, said Moen.

Business tools offered by Alberta Pork offer producers the means to make sound decisions and proactively manage risk.
One the other hand, producers in Western Canada continued to face challenges in an environment where costs of production have dropped a bit, but not nearly as much as the price of hogs. Alberta Pork’s weekly report for May 24 (, provides data showing an estimated decrease of five per cent in the average cost of production, to $229.88 per head, over the last year. The same data described hog prices decreases dropping between 13 and 18 per cent, with hog prices ranging from $216.80 to $225.88.
The current environment coupled with the cost to replace aging barns means producers will continue to leave the industry because the money is just not there to build or expand, said Moen.
“The reality in Canada, frankly, is that we haven’t had significant new barns built in the last 15 years. What that means then, is 50 to 60 per cent of our barns are almost to the point . . . where they’re going to have to have significant investment over the next number of years to keep them current,” he said.
On top of that, producers who have not yet moved to loose housing in their gestation rooms have only until 2029 to make those changes. There are producers who have made the upgrades. Of those who have not, some will choose to close their barns rather than make a major investment in an uncertain future, he said.
“That’s going to be a major challenge in our industry in the next five to six years and, honestly, that time goes awful quick.”
Moen said he was told in March that five Hutterite colonies are going out of production because their barns have worn out, representing a loss of about 1,000 pigs per week to supply packing plants.
That’s another blow to packers who are running at 85 per cent on a single shift when they would be much more competitive at closer to 100 per cent on two shifts, said Moen.
However, alongside the losses in hog supplies, packers are also having trouble finding the people they need to staff their plants, he said.
Moen said his advice to the board as he steps back is to continue the focus on business, be transparent in understanding the revenue opportunities for the animals, be aware of costs of production and be more transparent and focused on the fair share of margins between retail, packers and producers.
Retailers in Canada purchase only 30 per cent of Canada’s total pork production, yet they make the most and fastest profit with the least level of input, said Moen.
“That’s one of the things that we really need to focus on, publicly, is giving an understanding of who is earning what, how is that profit shared. Because right now, it is not shared proportionately to risk or investment,” he said.
“Consumers in Canada want to buy and consume Canadian product. We have to figure out a way of sharing that margin so that we can keep the producers in business, the packers in business and keep the retailers in business. Honestly, share the risk and share the reward.” •
— By Brenda Kossowan