(Quebec) Pig farmers are in an “extremely difficult” situation, recognizes the Legault government.

To a question from the opposition on the situation of the pork industry on Thursday, the Minister of Agriculture, André Lamontagne, indicated that 712 producers are facing serious financial problems.

But later his cabinet had to correct the situation: “there was confusion in the oral”, because there are 712 agricultural companies of all types which are in financial difficulty currently, not only pig companies.

More and more players in the pork industry, which is highly dependent on exports, are sounding the alarm. Markets have been restructuring since the pandemic.

La Financière agricole, for its part, paid no less than 240 million last year to pork producers. The opposition is concerned that the reduction in funding granted to the organization this year and that its cap at 650 million will affect its ability to compensate.

The Liberal Party also lamented that even young pork producers are thinking of throwing in the towel.

“I see producers called Kevin, Mathieu, Guillaume, who are putting the key under the door, they are not Alfred, Albert, Norbert”, imaged the Liberal critic for agriculture, André Fortin.

“It is people of a younger generation who are making this decision. […] They don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. »