Canada has more than 7,000 hog farms
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) has a new old member.
The Canadian Pork Council (CPC) has rejoined the national organization, bringing the total number of CFA members to 28.
The pork producer group withdrew from the CFA in 2013 over trade policies.
“We are unwilling to carry on any longer with what for us seems to be a perpetual and often lonely struggle dealing with policy proposals brought to the CFA table and committees, particularly on international trade, that are clearly contradictory to and compromising of our sector’s predominant interest in more liberalized trade,” Martin Rice, the CPC’s executive director at the time, said in a letter to the CFA.
The two organizations have worked together in the past on issues affecting the more than 7,000 Canadian hog farms across nine provinces.
But this formal and renewed partnership helps bring advocacy efforts to another level.
“With CPC at the table, our unified national voice grows even stronger particularly when engaging with the federal government on complex issues like sustainability, labour, animal health & emergency preparedness, trade, and competitiveness,” said Keith Currie, president of the CFA, said in a statement. “It’s critical that our industry work in together to advance common solutions and this announcement takes us one step further.”
“We believe in the value of unity across sectors and see this membership as an opportunity to strengthen collaboration and ensure pork producers are well represented on the national stage,” Rene Roy, chair of the Canadian Pork Council, said in a statement. “Trade is vital to the success of Canadian agriculture, and by working together through the CFA, we can better advocate for strong trade frameworks that support farmers and rural communities across the country.”
The restarted relationship comes at a time when Canadian pork is facing tariffs.
China currently has 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian pork products.