Various Strategies Help Minimize Impact of COVID-19 Related Pork Processing Plant Slowdowns

The Director of Risk Management with HAMS Marketing Services says a range of strategies are helping to minimise the impact of COVID-19 related slowdowns at the Maple Leaf pork processing plant in Brandon. Uncertainty over the impact of COVID-19 on pork processing capacity continues to pressure live hog markets.

 

Tyler Fulton, the Director of Risk Management with HAMS Marketing Services, observes a number of the bigger plants in the United States had to deal with the effects of COVID-19 far earlier and we saw some complete plant shutdowns in the U.S. in May but, for the most part, western Canadian processors didn't see any negative impacts from COVID-19 until mid-August.

 

 

It's a relatively small number of the employees that are impacted and I think we just have more information than we did back in May and we were better prepared. Maple Leaf has taken strong action in advance of the current issue in order to make some contingencies and be able to deal with it better.

 

So for producers, they are looking at shipping hogs to places that they may not have ever shipped before and that's partly the role of HAMS Marketing, to be able to find a home for those hogs because, as we know, the hogs don't stop growing.

 

When they are ready, there's a whole just-in-time system in place and when there's a disruption we need to find another location for them. Really, it's been all hands on deck in order to clear some of that supply and so that means moving hogs out of province, moving hogs to other plants within the province and even probably moving some hogs into provincially inspected plants that typically do a relatively small number of hogs.

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.