The General Manager of Manitoba Pork says passage of Bill C-234 will help restore the ability of Canada's pork producers to compete on the international market.
Bill C-234, a private member's bill that will create specific exemptions for farmers to Canada's carbon pricing scheme has passed in the House of Commons and is now awaiting approval by the Senate.
Cam Dahl, the General Manager of Manitoba Pork, says Canadian pork producers export 90 percent of the pork they produce and we're competing against producers in other parts of the world that don't have a carbon tax.
Quote-Cam Dahl-Manitoba Pork:
Feed costs are at near record prices and I say near record because the record levels are just a few months in the past caused by drought for example in the great plains and we're seeing some of those ongoing effects.I understand that this past year there were record levels of winter wheat that were abandoned in the United States because of drought conditions.
Those conditions are going to have an impact on our feed costs.Then we have things like the war in Ukraine.Ukraine was the world's third largest exporter of corn so to take those supplies out of the market are really driving up the feed prices.
Then there's uncertainty in what's happening in China, the world's largest consumer as well as the world's largest producer of pork, in terms of African Swine Fever and the impact of ASF all over the world.
It's a really uncertain period in the market and we're facing record level input prices as well.Unfortunately, the price of hogs is falling much faster than the price of feed and we're seeing the impact of that right now on the bottom line for producers.
Dahl says the carbon tax adds significant cost and those costs make Canadian farmers less competitive on the international market and help drive up the cost of food for consumers. He encourages everyone to contact their Senators and encourage them to pass this bill as quickly as possible.
Source : Farmscape.ca