Crisis in the pork industry | Pork producers and processors agree

(Quebec) Four days after the announcement of the upcoming closure of the Olymel plant in Vallée-Jonction, the Minister of Agriculture, André Lamontagne, announced on Tuesday the conclusion of a marketing agreement for pork, a first agreement negotiated for several years between producers and processors.

The details of this convention will be revealed this afternoon, but we know, among other things, that the annual production of pigs will be revised downwards (it is 6.8 million animals at the moment). There would be a buyout program for breeders who wish to leave the industry. There are 1530 farms in Quebec.

Currently, producers are selling pork at a loss — less than $200 a head — partly because of the difficult environment in international markets. About seven out of ten pigs are destined for export.

Quebec slaughterhouses have announced in recent years a significant reduction in purchases. The Olymel plant in Vallée-Jonction had a slaughter capacity of 35,000 animals per week – it is 28,000 these days, in particular due to the labor shortage. Its upcoming closure is part “in this whole restructuring plan” of the pork industry, according to André Lamontagne, who recalls that the government will come to the aid of the 1,000 workers affected.

Last year, the Farm Income Stabilization Insurance Scheme (ASRA) — a program funded by the state (two-thirds) and producers (one-third) — paid out no less than $240 million to breeders because of crisis.

In the past, producers and processors “each pulled their own edge” and the Agricultural Market Board imposed agreements as an administrative tribunal, but the time had come to have a “common plan” to hope to get out of the crisis. , explained André Lamontagne. “It’s important that the industry restructures and realigns itself,” he said.

“This convention really sows the right seeds, if you want to talk about agriculture. It generated a level of buy-in, consultation and collaboration that, to my knowledge, has not existed in the past. The fact of working together and being well aware of the reality of the other, it is certainly good elements to solve difficult situations, “said the minister after leaving a meeting with the various actors of the industry at its Quebec office.

According to Mr. Lamontagne, this agreement “has the potential to lay the foundations for, one, the sustainability of the sector in Quebec and, after that, its prosperity”. It is the second largest agricultural sector in Quebec.

This convention is not “an end in itself, but a beginning”. “There are several more steps to come,” the minister warned without going into detail. “We will have a sector, if this spirit of consultation continues, which will adjust with more agility in the changing context of the market. »

There was an agreement negotiated between producers and processors in 2008, also in a context of crisis.