Tariffs and trade were the number one issue for Alberta pork producers during recent producer meetings, said Alberta Pork’s Executive Director Darcy Fitzgerald.
“The topic on everyone’s mind is tariff issues and trade,” said Fitzgerald of the meetings in Grande Prairie, Red Deer, Drumheller and Lethbridge.
“Producers are just wondering what is being done about those kinds of things,” said Fitzgerald.
Potential tariff threats from the US and the recent Chinese tariffs on canola oil, canola meal and peas and certain pork, fish and seafood products have created uncertainty with producers.
Only a handful of Alberta producers export pigs to the US. Those producers are working directly with their American buyers to come up with agreements if the US tariffs are once again placed on Canadian goods, including pigs, on April 2. Uncertainty is also a concern for the boxed pork business, said Fitzgerald.
“At this point it is kind of wait and see. Tariffs aren’t good for anyone. It really hits food security for everybody in the world. We’ve just tried to relate to everyone that tariffs really do make it more expensive for consumers, and in the long run, they make it more expensive for farmers too.”

Buy Canadian
While still only anecdotal, Fitzgerald said he has heard more consumers are looking for Alberta pork in the grocery stores. While it may not be labelled and logo-ed or prominently displayed, Canadian pork can be found in most grocery stores.
“Seeing Canadian pork is great. Seeing Alberta pork is really good because people can say that it is local and that’s really nice, but as long as it’s Canadian that is the most important.”
With an integrated Canadian and US market, pigs flow back and forth across the border to be raised and processed and pork is not easily identifiable as Canadian, or partially Canadian.
“We do rely on the US to take our pigs and we take their pork as well. There is likely a billion dollars worth of pork that’s imported into Canada from the US so the tariffs on both sides hurt both farms and consumers.

AgriStability
Since the producer meetings, changes were made by the federal government to strengthen the AgriStability support program in case rising costs or market disruptions negatively hurt farmers.
“That is good, the government is looking at that. We know both our provincial and federal governments have been working towards having conversations and negotiating with all the governments that are involved with the tariffs.”

Code of Practice
Alberta’s 190 pork producers were reminded of the upcoming changes to the Code of Practice to move from gestation stalls to loose housing by 2029.
Fitzgerald said some older facilities will need to be rebuilt or retrofitted to meet the new standards to continue raising the 2.6 million hogs a year in Alberta.
“We’re having those discussions with producers to look at their facilities and it’s up to them to make that business decision.”

Communications
Alberta Pork will continue to talk to producers and industry stakeholders about the best way to deliver programs, but also how to raise the awareness of consumers about pork.
In May, the Alberta Pork website will get a face-lift to raise pork’s profile with consumers.
“That’s something our producers and industry have asked us to be more engaged with consumers so they know more about the pork industry,” he said.
“We’ve got to make pork sexy again. We’re getting to the point where we’re not seeing it in the stores or restaurants and we want to elevate that.”

Internal Trade
While tariffs are on everyone’s mind, Fitzgerald said more needs to be done to reduce the barriers that block internal trade within Canada.
“That is something internally we need to work on as well,” said Fitzgerald, noting 70 percent of Canadian pork is exported out of Canada.
“Pork strikes are really bad because we’re sending a perishable product to a port and if we can’t get it out of the country we’re in real trouble.”

Mood
Despite concerns about trade disputes, Fitzgerald categorized the mood of the meetings as positive and upbeat.
“In general I would say most producers have been optimistic in the last year.”
A combination of increased pricing, lowered feed prices and improved weather have all combined to make producers optimistic.
“Overall everybody seemed to be in pretty good spirits.” •
— By Mary MacArthur