OPC gears up for next year’s event

Oct 23, 2018

The congress chose its new executive and presented industry awards at the annual meeting last night

By Kate Ayers
Staff Writer
Farms.com

The Ontario Pork Congress (OPC) chose a new executive for 2019 and presented awards at its annual meeting last night in Stratford.

Kirk McLean is OPC’s new president. He has been involved with the congress for many years and has held such positions as chair of the exhibits committee and vice-president. The other members of the congress executive include:

Chris Crump (past president)
Henry Groenestege (recording secretary)
Meghan Kirkpatrick (1^st vice-president)
Kristy Perrin (director)
Tom Murray (treasurer)
Francisco Trejo (2^nd vice-president)
Kevin Varley (director)

For the next event, congress organizers aim to “improve the numbers for the show – always keeping the number of exhibitors up – keeping it interesting and keeping the social aspect of the show up as well,” McLean said to Farms.com yesterday.

The educational aspect of the congress is also important as is giving industry stakeholders an event through which to connect and network.

The OPC executive wants to continue the tradition of having “a venue where there is business and socializing going on … under one roof,” McLean said.

He looks forward to expanding on OPC’s past work and “keeping things fresh and exciting going forward.”

Scott Dingwell of Hometown Pork in P.E.I. was a guest speaker at last night’s meeting. He is a life-long eighth-generation hog farmer.

He spoke about promoting involvement in the ag industry and recruiting new leaders.

“When we talk about leadership, it can’t just be the president or the chairman. It is everyone who is involved” in the industry, Dingwell said to Farms.com yesterday.

“We’ve lost so many farmers while maintaining our production. The pool of potential leaders is dramatically shrinking.”

Those in the industry must actively invite, engage, empower and then respect potential leaders, he said.

“Inviting means finding them and bringing them into the (industry) circle. Then we have to engage them. We have to ask them to be involved, we have to listen to what they say … especially the younger generations,” Dingwell said.

“Empowerment is giving permission – it’s saying, ‘we need you, we want you’ and … the last R is respect. It goes back to industry member and leaders, knowing they are truly being respected and when they are truly being listened to.”

In addition, the OPC presented its Industry Leadership Award to Joe Dwyer.

And the OPC exec presented the Hog Jog cheque to the Local Community Food Centre in Stratford. The cheque was for $54,000.

Over the past 13 years, the Hog Jog has raised over $476,000 for multiple charities.

Save the dates for next year’s show, which will be held on June 19 and 20, 2019.

Top photo
Back Row L-R: Henry Groenestege, Tom Murray, Francisco Trejo
Front Row L-R: Kevin Varley, Meghan Kirkpatrick, Kirk McLean, Chris Crump, Kristy Perrin
Glenn Ruegg photo

Video: Swine Industry Advances: Biodigesters Lower Emissions and Increase Profits

Analysis of greenhouse gas (GHG emissions) in the Canadian swine sector found that CH4 emissions from manure were the largest contributor to the overall emissions, followed by emissions from energy use and crop production.

This innovative project, "Improving Swine Manure-Digestate Management Practices Towards Carbon Neutrality With Net Zero Emission Concepts," from Dr. Rajinikanth Rajagopal, under Swine Cluster 4, seeks to develop strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

While the management of manure can be very demanding and expensive for swine operations, it can also be viewed as an opportunity for GHG mitigation, as manure storage is an emission source built and managed by swine producers. Moreover, the majority of CH4 emissions from manure occur during a short period of time in the summer, which can potentially be mitigated with targeted intervention.

In tandem with understanding baseline emissions, Dr. Rajagopal's work focuses on evaluating emission mitigation options. Manure additives have the potential of reducing manure methane emissions. Additives can be deployed relatively quickly, enabling near-term emission reductions while biodigesters are being built. Furthermore, additives can be a long-term solution at farms where biogas is not feasible (e.g., when it’s too far from a central digester). Similarly, after biodigestion, additives can also be used to further reduce emissions from storage to minimize the carbon intensity of the bioenergy.