FAREWELL TO THE PIG FACTORY!!!

FAREWELL TO THE PIG FACTORY!!!

Postby Oscar » Fri Sep 14, 2012 7:45 am

FAREWELL TO THE PIG FACTORY

----- Original Message -----
From: Elaine Hughes
To: SK Watershed Auth. ; SK Premier Wall ; Safe Drinking Water Foundation ; Breitkreuz, G. MP ; NFU ; Beyond Factory Farming ; Council of Canadians
Cc: The Current ; SK NDP Caucus ; SK Party Caucus ; SK Green Leader - Lau, Victor ; Sierra Club - Can. ; Sask Environmental Society ; Sask EcoNetwork ; Ralph Goodale, Liberal.ca ; RAE, Bob. Lib. Leader ; MULCAIR, T. NDP Leader ; MAY, E. GPC Leader ; Food Secure Saskatchewan ; Food Secure Canada ; Food For All Coalition
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2012 7:33 AM
Subject: FAREWELL TO THE PIG FACTORY - UPDATE: Sep. 14.12

FAREWELL TO PIG FACTORIES!

HELLO TO HUMANE PIG RAISING PRACTICES by ''farmers", CLEAN WATER, CLEAN FOOD, CLEAN AIR . . . . . .!!!



Elaine Hughes
Archerwill, SK
www.stopthehogs.com

= = = = = = = =

Pork council must focus more on farmers' needs

http://www.brandonsun.com/opinion/lette ... he-editor/
pork-council-must-focus-more-on-farmers-needs-147417315.html

14/04/2012 1:00 AM | Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION

Maple Leaf and government policy is to blame for the continued loss of hog producers and a risk to “thousands of jobs” at the Brandon slaughter plant.

Manitoba Pork Council general manager Andrew Dickson would have us believe that the province-wide hog production ban and new manure treatment regulations are the culprits.

Does Dickson forget that the loss of most independent hog farmers started when the Maple Leaf, Hy-Tek and Puratone corporations set up their pyramid scheme-like operations and the conservative Filmon government removed single-desk marketing protection in the late 1990s? Well before a moratorium and phosphorus regulation was put in place.

The Clean Environment Commission reports that, in the 1960s, government put the single-desk system in place “in response to producer complaints that the packing companies were combining to keep prices down.”

The Canadian Pork Council acknowledges in its 2011 report “Building a Durable Future in the Canadian Hog Industry,” that “When consolidated buyers are purchasing from fragmented sellers, prices will generally favour the buyers,” and, “The lack of ability to negotiate higher pricing formulae makes it relatively difficult to do business.”

Farmers who raise few hogs, without the single-desk, are forced to accept the prices set by these companies with their contract producers for a “$1 to $2 per hog” profit. Or they can stop. This company set margin hasn’t changed much since 2004. Overall economic viability is dependent on volume of production and sales. By 2006, 78 per cent of hogs were raised by only 21 per cent of hog producers with 90 per cent of all producers under contract production. The consolidation and loss of producers continues.

Further, a decrease in domestic pork consumption due to consumer distaste for pollution, health, social, food safety and animal welfare problems (especially sows kept in crates all their lives) which are endemic to the industrial system, resulted in more people directly sourcing pork from the few remaining independent small farmers or not eating it at all.

If Maple Leaf is so desperate for hogs to keep its plant running at full capacity, why did the corporation downsize its sow herd from 109,000 to 40,000 sows in 2008? To transfer more risk to producers?

MPC members’ interests would be better served if Dickson focused on the needs of real farmers, the environment and true humane pig raising, rather than on what its corporate members Maple Leaf, HyLife and Puratone want.

The current problem is one of its own making, supported by government.

Manitoba taxpayers should not be expected to, once again, subsidize the industry with environmental, health and animal welfare concessions as Dickson is again calling on government to do on behalf of these MPC corporate members’ interests.

RUTH PRYZNER
Alexander, MB

- - - -
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition April 14, 2012

= = = = =

Maple Leaf sees slightly smaller hog supply ahead

http://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news/
maple-leaf-sees-slightly-smaller-hog-supply-ahead/1001697180/

HyLife sees decreased hog supply, higher prices

Sep 13, 2012 9:38 PM - 0 comments By: Rod Nickel Winnipeg | Reuters

Canadian hog supplies should tighten only modestly in 2013, one of the country's biggest pork processors said on Thursday, even as farmers close their barns or struggle to stay afloat.

A severe drought in the United States has decimated crops, which has led to higher costs for feed grains and pushed North American hog farmers into steep losses.

"Obviously the challenge that we currently face is producers are exiting the business," Jason Manness, director of procurement at Maple Leaf Foods, told Reuters on Thursday. "We expect less hogs in 2013, but only marginally lower at this point in time."

Maple Leaf is the second-largest Canadian pork processor, with weekly slaughter of about 90,000 hogs.

Canada's second-biggest hog farm operation, Big Sky Farms, entered receivership this week and another major hog farmer, Manitoba-based Puratone, received protection from creditors on Wednesday.

Both continue to operate, at least for the short term.

The country's largest hog farm operation, Manitoba-based HyLife, said Thursday it expects overall hog supplies to decrease, eventually pushing up prices.

"HyLife is also challenged but, together with our financial partners, remains confident and optimistic with regards to the future of our industry," the company said in a statement.

Hog supply currently is similar to a year ago, and Maple Leaf expects only a slight tightening in 2013, Manness said. Even as some hog farmers exit the business, others are becoming more efficient, offsetting some of the hog losses, he said.

Maple Leaf raises its own hogs to supply about 20 per cent of its slaughter and has not reduced hog production or pork processing rates in spite of high feed costs, Manness said.

Canada's total inventory of hogs on farms has been edging higher for the past two years, after a government-subsidized downsizing effort, to about 12.9 million head at mid-2012.

Puratone, which sells about 500,000 hogs annually, has financing to keep operating during the 30-day period in which it will attempt to restructure.

MORE:
http://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news/
maple-leaf-sees-slightly-smaller-hog-supply-ahead/1001697180/

= = = = =

Hog producer Puratone files for bankruptcy protection

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/ ... 012/09/13/
mb-puratone-hog-bankruptcy-protection.html

CBC News Posted: Sep 13, 2012 4:18 PM CT
Last Updated: Sep 13, 2012 5:10 PM CT

Manitoba's third-largest hog producer, Puratone Corp., has filed for bankruptcy protection, leaving at least 350 jobs in limbo.

Puratone filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, according to court records. It has 30 days to restructure or sell its assets.

Headquartered in Niverville, Man., the company supplies about 500,000 pigs a year, says Karl Kynoch, chairman of the Manitoba Pork Council.

"This is huge. This just emphasizes what the industry is going through," he told CBC News on Thursday.

"The fact that Puratone has done this — they're reliant on solely hogs."

Officials with Puratone have not responded to CBC News requests for comment on Thursday.

Record losses

Puratone's move comes days after Big Sky Farms, Saskatchewan's largest pork producer, went into receivership.

Its financial problems are linked to drought in the U.S., which has led to high feed prices in Canada.

Record losses in Manitoba's hog industry has forced hundreds of producers to leave the business.

There were almost 5,000 hog producers in the province 15 years ago, but that number has dwindled to fewer than 500 today, according to the pork council.

"I've been expecting stuff like this to happen," Kynoch said.

"I'd say for the last two months, there's been a number of independent small farms that have been shutting down quietly."

More:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/ ... 012/09/13/
mb-puratone-hog-bankruptcy-protection.html

Related Stories:

Big Sky owes banks $69M, court told

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatche ... 012/09/13/
sk-hogs-big-sky-1209.html

= = = = = =

BIG SKY - BELLY UP!!!

----- Original Message -----
From: Elaine Hughes
To: SK Premier Wall ; Breitkreuz, G. MP ; Beyond Factory Farming ; Council of Canadians ; SK Watershed Auth.
Cc: Food Secure Saskatchewan ; Food Secure Canada ; Food For All Coalition ; SK Party Caucus ; SK NDP Caucus ; SK Green Leader - Lau, Victor
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2012 8:09 AM
Subject: big sky - belly up!!!!!!

Premier Wall . . .

The answer is "NO!"

Not one cent of my taxes to bail this obscenity out!!

Elaine Hughes
Archerwill, SK

= = = = =

High feed costs push Big Sky into receivership

http://www.canadiancattlemen.ca/news/
high-feed-costs-push-big-sky-into-receivership/1001688612/

Hog producer supplies Maple Leaf Foods, Olymel packing plants

Sep 11, 2012 8:48 PM By: Rod Nickel Winnipeg | Reuters Livestock, Markets

Canada's second-biggest hog producer, Big Sky Farms, has entered receivership as the North American hog industry struggles under the bruising costs of animal feed.

Big Sky Farms, based at Humboldt, Sask., produces roughly one million pigs annually and accounts for 40 per cent of Saskatchewan's total hog production.

Under receivership, an outside party controls a company until it can restructure its debt or be sold, said Neil Ketilson, general manager of Sask Pork, an industry group run by hog farmers.

Ketilson said he had spoken with Big Sky CEO Casey Smit on Monday, and the company would operate for now with no plans to lay off staff or liquidate its pig inventory. He said the receiver would ensure that there was money to feed the pigs.

- - - SNIP - - -

"It's all about the drought in the U.S.," he said. "If it hadn't been for that, I think the guys would have been just fine."

If Big Sky, established in 1995, were to liquidate its herd, the broader western Canadian hog industry would be hit hard, including feed mills, truckers and hog processors.

Big Sky is one of the suppliers for packing plants owned by Maple Leaf Foods and Olymel. Canada is the world's third-largest pork exporter.

Big Sky, which bills itself as "one of the pioneers of the multi-site production model now in use throughout North America," filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009 after a similar run-up in feed costs and restructured its business.

-- Rod Nickel writes for Reuters from Winnipeg.
Oscar
Site Admin
 
Posts: 9079
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm

Return to Factory Production of Animals

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests

cron