Saskatchewan swine industry has room to grow

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

Recent developments in Manitoba have highlighted the opportunities in the pork industry here in Saskatchewan.

The Manitoba government has imposed a moratorium on new or expanded swine operations in the province – effectively putting the brakes on industry growth in that province.

The Manitoba hog barn moratorium will remain in place while a committee reviews the impact of the industry on the environment. There is no deadline or anticipated timeline for the committee to complete its work.

Harvey Wagner, the Manager of Producer Services for Sask Pork, said the moratorium may indirectly benefit the industry in Saskatchewan.

Wagner said, in the short term, there may not be much impact – but in the long term, the moratorium could affect investor decisions about where to build new hog barns or expand existing facilities.

“People have to put a lot of money into a facility, so they want to be sure that it is in a place that is going to be welcoming them. Investors have a long memory,” said Wagner.

In Saskatchewan, the government supports continued growth of the industry here. Wagner says Premier Lorne Calvert made that clear in a recent speech to the pork industry.

“The Premier spoke to the pork industry on November 14 and indicated that the province saw value in the pork industry and would like to see it continue to grow,” said Wagner.

Even without an expansion moratorium to the east, Wagner says Saskatchewan has some market advantages. Meanwhile, other market factors are putting the brakes on swine industry expansion to the west.

“One thing that has really been causing a lot of grief in Alberta is labour. They are having trouble staffing facilities, given the heat of that economy right now. They also have fairly high demand for their feed grains, given the feedlots in southern Alberta, so that can be a bit of a challenge,” said Wagner.

Wagner pointed out that Saskatchewan has more feed grain available than anywhere else and has a better labour situation. Saskatchewan also has demand for a by-product from swine production: manure.

“Certainly, compared to Manitoba, we have an awful lot of land that would really benefit from manure application. We don’t have the same run-off issue because our land doesn’t have the same watershed as Manitoba. We can utilize that manure as a high quality fertilizer,” explained Wagner.

For more information, contact:

Harvey Wagner, Manager – Producer Services
Sask Pork
Phone: (306) 244-7452
E-mail: hwagner@saskpork.com