THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2011
VOL. 89 | NO. 43 | $3.75
HOG INDUSTRY | MAPLE LEAF
Maple Leaf changes show bright future SERVING WESTERN CANADIAN FARM FAMILIES SINCE 1923
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CWB | CHANGE COMING
GERRY RITZ FEDERAL AG MINISTER
BRITA CHELL CWB
We will see a fundamental shift Reading the tea of marketing power and leaves | Experts wealth away from prairie ess farmers and into the hands predict what comes after the CWB of huge, foreign-based companies. BY ED WHITE ALLEN OBERG
WINNIPEG BUREAU
CWB
The Canadian Wheat Board oard and supporters of its monopolyy say the ian grain entire Winnipeg and Canadian led up by trade would likely be gobbled WB goes. foreign companies if the CWB dian grain Many players in the Canadian industry think the board is vastly overrating its importance. But most agree that within a couple years after the end of the marketing monopolies it will become clear whether an independent Canadian industry will exist or if foreign multinationals will take over. “I think we’re going to be in for some major, major change here overr n the next couple of years,” said Adrian Measner, chief executive officer off Mission Terminal, owned by Soumat, and a former chief executivee officer of the Canadian Wheat Board. “I think you’ll find (multinationall grain companies) a lot more activee h and I think we’re going to go through a period of rationalization here overr the next two to three years.” University of Manitoba agriculturall n economist Ed Tyrchniewicz, a grain industry analyst, said he thinks thee changes will be more a form of evolution than devastation. SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, PAGE 2
Winnipeg expansion shows commitment to industry, say hog marketers BY ED WHITE WINNIPEG BUREAU
Farmers should be happy that Maple Leaf Foods is re-engineering its meat processing system, hog marketers and analysts say. Even though it is closing a number of plants — including a bacon plant in North Battleford, Sask. — its choice to build Winnipeg into a world-competitive plant and its modernization of the Saskatoon operation shows there will be demand for prairie pigs in Brandon for years to come, they say. “It looks like Maple Leaf is committed to Manitoba for the long term,” said Hams Marketing general manager Perry Mohr. That view is shared by Brent Moen, the chair of Alberta’s Western Hog Exchange. “The fact that they’re building a world scale plant and consolidating operations into that plant is good for producers,” said Moen, whose organization sells most of its pigs to Olymel in Red Deer. “It has to be good for our industry. Whether it is Maple Leaf or Olymel or anyone who further processes pork, better plants can create better demand.” Maple Leaf’s massive restructuring has several components: • Shutting plants from Moncton, N.B. to Coquitlam, B.C. • Closing the North Battleford bacon plant, cutting 332 jobs, by the end of 2013. • Shutting the Winnipeg Hot Rod meat stick plant in Winnipeg, losing 27 employees, in late 2014. access=subscriber section=news,none,none
SEE MAPLE LEAF, PAGE 3
The Canadian grain trade has a good asset base and trading ability. There’s certainly life for the grain trade going forward.
I think there will be some companies disappearing here in Winnipeg. What that is depends on how the larger players establish themselves in Winnipeg.
PATERSON
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Pundits speak: what happens next?
There is going to be costs incurred during this crop year. We need to clean up the balance sheet so that we can have a clean starting point at Aug. 1.
We’re cognizant of the fact that this (transition WWW.PRODUCER.COM costs) should not come out of the pools because we don’t want to be saddling farmers with these costs.