NPR

The Canadian government announced that it would pay pork producers as much as $50 million to kill 150,000 pigs by fall. It’s an effort to reduce supply in order to raise the price of pork and help struggling hog farmers, says Clare Schlegel, president of the Canadian Pork Council.

“It’s really a perfect storm,” says Schlegel, a hog farmer himself. First is the unprecedented rise in the value of the Canadian dollar — now trading about par with the U.S. dollar — which means pork prices north of the border have halved. Meanwhile, feed prices have almost doubled, which Schlegel says is primarily due to ethanol demand and fuel policies.

Thirdly, Schlegel says, a cure for a difficult hog disease called circle virus has worked “wonderfully” — and cruelly — for the industries in Canada and the United States. “Our pigs are healthy, happy — they’re growing and making it to market,” he says.

The overabundance of pigs means too many people aren’t making enough money. Canada plans to eliminate 2 percent of the North American breeding swine. “Canada and the United States are about 50 percent of the world export market,” he says, indicating the global significance of the North American market.

Cripes!




  1. MoparPower says:

    #14. But I need ethanol for my 440
    Just like I used to need gas. And I’m not getting a smaller engine thats un-American.

  2. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #30 – and the rest will go to the pet food industry

    But my cat is a vegetarian!!!!

  3. Uncle Ben says:

    gquaglia said, Here is a concept. How about letting the pigs live and just not slaughter them.

    Ah… okay then, are you going to pay for their feed then?

    Brandon Bachman Ethanol is bullshit.

    Any relation to Randy, Brandon? If so, I liked your house in Linden (was it Linden? Washington state somewhere anyway….).

    Anyway, I think you’ll find that Ethanol isn’t made from bullshit, its made from corn usually. Methane can be made from bullshit though….

  4. ghm101 says:

    They can just get all the baby seal hunters to club all the pigs.
    I hear they didn’t see too much action this year so they should be up for it.

  5. SparkyOne says:

    by George Harrison, The Beatles

    Have you seen the little piggies
    Crawling in the dirt
    And for all the little piggies
    Life is getting worse
    Always having dirt to play around in.

    Say hello to Porky when you get to pig heaven!

  6. mike cannali says:

    Send the piggies to the poor starving people in iran

  7. GigG says:

    Boobo said…”Very sad when the government tries to do something good and fubars.”

    And then he wrote…”BEST GOV POLICY TO DEVELOP ALT ENERGY AND SAVE THE UNIVERSE?==add tax to gas. Let the market find the alternative.”

    You’ve witnessed and even noticed that the government screws stuff up yet you want them to try something else and charge us a tax to do it.

    You do know Boobo what one of the definitions of insanity is don’t you?

  8. Bil says:

    Ship them to the Middle East and drop them from the sky.

  9. bobbo says:

    #7–GigG==Exactly!!

    That’s why there is just a negative incentive on gas, and no program on the alternative.

    Can you think of anything better, or is the status quo your cup of tea?

  10. Jägermeister says:

    Export the pigs to China.

  11. Lou says:

    Another scam for the taxpayers of Canada.
    The Hog farmers should know how many hogs they need or get out of the Biz.
    250 dollars per hog, take away what they get at market for a hog.
    This is not how a free market works.
    Another thing is, why I’m paying 15 bucks for a rack of pork ribs at the supermarket ?
    Seems like the supermarkets are scaming the customers.

  12. xnfec says:

    Thats funny. Just last year there was talk of the price of pork sky-rocketing in China because there was a shortage. Did someone miss a marketing opportunity or is this a case of everyone anticipating high prices and over producing?


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