Spencer Long of Genesus
Challenges remain in the Canadian pork industry with high input costs that are impacting profitability for producers. Pork exports to the US remain high and the need for US packers to fill voids in capacity. Olymel, a large Canadian packer based in Quebec announced they will be reducing the purchase of hogs by 855,000 beginning June 3rd. This will continue the flow of more hogs from Canada to the U.S. that need to be harvested.
I had the opportunity to attend the Banff Swine Seminar in January in Banff, Alberta. It was a very well-attended conference with 783 attendees of producers and industry people. Last year there were just over 200 attendees due to the pandemic, this was a massive rebound in attendance. The mood at the conference despite the ongoing challenges with profitability was positive. The speakers in general were good and gave their perspective on what’s going on in the marketplace.
One of the speakers at the conference was a representative from the world’s largest swine genetic company and spoke about “sustainability” and “gene-editing”. Sustainability is a buzzword that is increasingly being used by many in our industry as more consumers are becoming more conscious. Gene-editing on the other hand is a word that many consumers do not like or want to consume the food. In this presentation by the world’s largest genetic company, they spoke of their 60-year legacy in our industry. There is no doubt they are the biggest in the world and have been around for a long time, this is no small feat. Within this legacy the presenter didn’t mention the sustainability of staggering mortality and sow prolapses they are facing currently; he also didn’t mention if gene-editing could fix these massive problems.
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