(Montreal) Olymel announced Friday that it would cut about 80 jobs by reducing its pork production in Western Canada.

The company will close five sow farms in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan, reducing its western herd from 57,000 to 40,000 sows in production, she said.

The affected facilities will be gradually closed over the next few months and will remain so until market conditions improve.

The closure of farms will result in a net reduction of approximately 200,000 hogs per year sent to the Red Deer slaughterhouse from farms owned by Olymel.

However, the impact on plant operations will not be felt until 2024 at the earliest and will depend on the availability of an independent supply of pork.

The company said it would work with affected staff to fill any vacancies within its western hog operations or find them work outside the company.

“It is clearly established that Olymel has suffered significant losses in the fresh pork processing sector over the past two years, due to limited access to the global market,” said the President and CEO of Olymel in a press release. ‘Olymel, Yanick Gervais.

“As grain costs remain high and causing unprecedented losses in the hog sector, we have no choice but to retreat in order to position ourselves for success when conditions improve. »