Hog producers’ groups from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. want their governments to deal soon with “short- and long-term availability of feed grain.”
In a joint statement Monday from Mexico following a meeting at Merida, about 300 km west of Cancun, representatives from the Canadian Pork Council, Confederacion de Porcicultores Mexicanos and U.S. National Pork Producers Council called on their countries’ ag ministers to meet and address the issue “in a responsible manner.”
Hog producers are “vigorously competing for a resource that is in high demand and shows no signs of dropping,” the groups said.
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Their anxiety was “only heightened” by recent U.S. Department of Agriculture grain supply and production reports suggesting this spring’s seeding 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,” the groups said.
“If the availability of feed is not addressed in a responsible manner, the ability of hundreds of millions of people to consume pork and other meat and poultry products will be jeopardized,” the three groups said in their signed statement to their governments.
The Canadian, U.S. and Mexican groups were represented by their presidents Jurgen Preugschas, Doug Wolf and Rigoberto Espinoza respectively.
