The General Manger of Manitoba Pork expects four or five new swine barn projects to be in the works by the end of this summer, with possibly five or six proposals coming forward in 2017.
Manitoba Pork is providing technical assistance to swine producers considering the construction of new or expansion of existing hog production facilities under the “Pig Production Special Pilot Project Evaluation Protocol” which was introduced in April 2015.
Manitoba Pork General Manager Andrew Dickson says the core problem in western Canada is a shortage of finished pigs that the processing plants require to meet their market demand so we need to move forward quickly to get new finishing capacity in place.
We’ve had some applications come forward. It’s not many but that’s on top of some people who have been able to move forward without going through this process because they’ve got permits that were given out some years ago and they’re now realizing them and proceeding with construction. So I’m hoping by the end of summer we should have four or five projects going in the province, some under this pilot project and then some under old permits.
Some of them will be extensions to existing barns, especially with sow barns. and some are going to be finishing capacity so hopefully we’ll have a balance here. There’s a lot of tire kicking going on and I’m hoping that we can go into 2017 with maybe five or six proposals coming forward as well. ~ Andrew Dickson, Manitoba Pork
Dickson acknowledges producers have to make money at this and they have to be able to repay loans so there has to be a feeling that there’s a positive future before they make considerable investments in buildings.
He says the processors are attempting to provide incentives and there’s a lot of work going on to reduce investment costs.
