OTTAWA, Ontario – Top executives from hog farmer organizations in Canada, the United States and Mexico said they share a major concern regarding feed grain availability. Pork producer representatives met in Merida, Mexico, and stressed the critical importance to the hog industries in all three countries of having adequate availability to feed grain over the next year.

“Hog producers have been vigorously competing for a resource that is in high demand and shows no signs of dropping,” said Rigoberto Espinoza, presidente de la Confederacion de Porcicultores Mexicanos; Doug Wolf, president, National Pork Producers Council; and Jurgen Preugschas, president, Canadian Pork Council, in a statement. “The sense of anxiety over the availability of feed grain for the hog industry was only heightened with the release of the US Department of Agriculture's Grain Supply and Production Reports that indicated that the crop planting this coming spring and normal yields would provide only a modest easing of tight feed supplies.


“The lack of a stable supply of feed grains for livestock and poultry industry will significantly increase the cost of production, and consequently, the retail price of our products and make it all the more difficult for families to make healthy choices,” they added.