Canadian Pig Production Practices Survey for Improved Economic and Environmental Viability Ready for Launch

Jan 27, 2020

A multidisciplinary team of Scientists working on behalf of Swine Innovation Porc is set to launch an economic and environmental survey of Canadian pork producers. The "Canadian Pig Production Practices Survey for Improved Economic and Environmental Viability" will be discussed next week in Winnipeg as part of the 2020 Manitoba Swine Seminar.

Dr. Mario Tenuta, a Professor of Applied Soil Ecology in the University of Manitoba's Department of Soil Science, explains the survey is designed to validate research that shows North American pork producers have made significant advances in reducing their environmental footprint and to analyse Canadian production systems and their use of resources.

Clip-Dr. Mario Tenuta-University of Manitoba:

Any province that has a significant amount of pig production will have producers invited to join us in responding to the survey. We're targeting 400 producers across the country. We hope that managers of barns or owners will respond.

We're looking at independent producers but then we're also looking at integrated corporate producers as well to join us in being respondents. We want to be very reflective of the regional character of pig production across Canada in terms of number of barns and number of animals that are produced in different provinces.

We don't want to be biased in terms of independent producers or integrated corporate producers because they may have different efficiencies or resource use. We want to make sure that we're very reflective of production systems in Canada.

Source : Farmscape

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.