Fellow Pork Producers and Distinguished Guests:

As I look over the scene before me, I see a mass of people who would much rather be somewhere else. But we’re here today because we simply couldn’t stay away. Never before have Ontario pork producers gathered at a rally such as this at Queen’s Park and quite frankly, we’d prefer to be at home on the farm doing what we do best. We’re here out of desperation. Never have prices been so low. And never have the losses been this great.

When I chat with older producers, they talk about the years 1968 and 1972. But they’re quick to add that back in the good old days you could buy a truck for under five thousand dollars. Today that same truck would cost six times that.

Today, each and every hog that my fellow producers and I ship is sold at a major loss. We are not talking a minor price bump in the road here. We are talking about the price dropping off a cliff.

Let me explain. The average price per kilogram over the past five years was in the area of $1.55 per kilogram of dressed weight. The price this week was in the area of $0.60 per kilogram. Simple math shows a net loss in income of $0.95 per kilo or about $82 for every hog produced. Each week my producers and I market over 105,000 market hogs. So each week, we as an industry, are losing over eight million dollars.

I was asked to tell you about what is happening to us personally down on our farm. My wife Pam and I and our four children jointly own with my father a medium size farrow to finish operation in Haldimand county. We have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into this operation and can’t possibly put a price on the sweat it’s taken to establish this business.

My father has worked the farm for over forty-four years and is just settling into his retirement. In 1983, he and my late mother were good enough to help my wife and I live the life we’d always dreamed of. They gave us a leg up into this business. I’ve worked at this for twenty-two years so far and have reinvested every last dollar into the business. We have put every effort forward to be successful.

We thought that we could soon start to take life a little easier and enjoy the fruits of our labour. In three short months, this goal has turned into a distant dream and now that dream has turned into a nightmare. Never in my wildest imaginings did I ever envision the market retracting and falling to the levels that we have at present. At first I was a little numb as the slide began. Now, as I watch equity erode around me, it’s easy to become downright sick and disheartened.

There is absolutely nothing I or any other producer can do to stop the hemorrhaging of our equity. Every day, we look for answers and everyday we’re disappointed. I’m not alone because every single hog farmer in the crowd today can tell a story somewhat like mine. Everyone of you can watch the bills stack up without a way to cover them. Everyone of you is currently using up your NISA accounts, savings accounts and your retirement money. And now this money is all but gone.

Every time we load our hogs for market we count our losses as the trucks move down the lane way. After all the work, all the investment and all the planning, we’re slapped in the face with a loss of $82 a hog. There is nothing so humiliating and disheartening as doing your job and doing it well only to lose money. And this is not just this week or last week but countless weeks before. The stress is more than any mind or body can take.

Ultimately, we will lose producers. Some won’t weather this storm. They’re here today. You could be standing next to one of them. Many of us are discouraged. Many of us will be driven off the land. Families who have worked hard, cash cropping and in the barn, will be forced to give up. Some will lose everything.

These people have faces. They’re here today. We are hurting and we are looking for help. This economic situation will stretch far past the farm as it ripples into town and affects everyone in the chain. One out of every seven jobs in the agricultural sector is supplied by the pork industry. Feed mills, hardware stores, coops, trucking companies, veterinarians, packers and herds people all rely on our pork industry to provide jobs for them.

These people are our friends and our trading partners. Each is dependent on the other but once the dominoes of bankruptcy start, the long row behind our producers will tumble as well. It’s estimated that the pork industry supplies forty two thousand jobs in Ontario after the hogs leave the farm. We talk about job creation every election. Let’s start talking job preservation. Let’s keep our agri food industry and the jobs we supply alive. Harry – pause here as I anticipate that this statement will stir a reaction in the crowd.

Further compounding the situation is the fact that pork producers in neighbouring countries and provinces enjoy subsidies which keep the returns to producers far above the returns we experience in Ontario. While my fellow pork producers grovel, trying to get by, these producers are still in expansion mode. The pork produced on these subsidized farms competes with our pork for freezer space. These subsidies create an unfair trading field. Coupled with low pork prices, these subsidies jeopardize the future of our industry.

Minister Villeneuve, we need your help. We need it soon. We need more than sympathizing words. We need action. We need to know, Minister of Agriculture, that you want a pork industry in Ontario. Does the province of Ontario truly appreciate its pork producers? If the answer is a whole-hearted yes, then we ask you to support programs that will keep us on our farms. Without action, Minister Villeneuve, Premier Harris and all Ontario MPPs, our province’s pork industry as we know it will fail. If that happens, our province will become a net importer of pork.

And as the dominoes fall, associated partners in the industry will also fall and countless jobs will be lost.

There are solutions to the problems we face. Let’s work together to develop an action plan that will enable us to stay on our farms and do what we know best. Short term relief is urgently needed but so is strategic long term planning between producers, packers and government to ensure that that catastrophic price disaster never occurs again.

Together, let’s reshape this industry into one where everyone is viable and the Ontario consumer is well served. Long term sustainability is the only way to attain viability for all industry stakeholders. Long term visioning is of paramount importance.

In closing, I am asking our elected officials to stay behind after this rally and talk to our beleaguered producers. I can’t begin to tell all the stories or describe all the situations for our farming families across this province. But I know the hurt of retiring farmers who are losing their investment with no time to make it up. I can see that because I see it in the eyes of my father. I know the hurt of the middle-aged farmer because of the tremendous burden I go to bed with and the pain I wake up with each morning. I know the horror of younger farmers because each day, countless numbers of them call me in desperation to ask what they should do next. Lastly, I know the uncertainty of the future pork producers of Ontario because I see it in the questioning eyes of my own children.

Following in the proud tradition of my parents, years ago I made a commitment to assist any of our children to farm if they so choose. I now have a hard time telling them with a straight face that I can fulfill that promise. I truly fear that decision may be out of my hands now.

I leave you with one final question: Do you want to have a pork industry in Ontario?

For me the answer is a whole-hearted YES. Will you join with me in that reply?

The time to act is now.

Thank you.

END

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