Manitoba Pork GM Urges Policymakers To Focus On Trade

Oct 07, 2021

With the federal election behind us, the general manager for Manitoba Pork is hoping that policymakers are focusing on securing international access for Manitoba's products.

"Trade policy is critically important to us," commented Cam Dahl. "Ninety per cent of what Manitoba grows is exported, either by on the foot, or in pork products. Of course those pork products are actually processed here in Manitoba. There's a lot of Manitoba jobs that are dependent on pork and international trade."

Dahl notes Canada needs to use the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the dispute processes in agreements like CETA and CPTPP to actively challenge nonscience-based trade barriers.

"We're really in an uncertain period right now where we're not sure what barriers are going to come next," he said. "Some of the trade agreements we signed really aren't working all that well for us. Fixing that, really does need to be a key priority for politicians in the next Parliament."

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Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

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