April 24, 2008

Canada's Manitoba to provide CAN$500,000 to process cull hogs

The Manitoba government will provide CAN$500,000 to process hogs that will be culled in under the federal government's National Cull Sow programme as part of efforts to mitigate the effects of overproduction. 

The processed ground pork will then be distributed by Winnipeg Harvest through Manitoba food banks, according to a release from the Manitoba government on Wednesday (April 24, 2008).

The hog industry in the province will benefit from the programme as it will take a number of sows out of production and provide quality meat for low-income families, said Rosann Wowchuk, Manitoba's Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives minister.

More than 150,000 kilograms of pork products would be made available to the food banks and should support the processing of roughly 5,000 surplus sows available through the federal Cull Sow programme. The Cull Sow programme will help reduce breeding stock nationally while providing producers with CAN$225 per sow.

Wowchuk added that earlier this year, the province loaned CAN$60 million to cash-strapped hog producers.

(US$1=CAN$0.9820)