Heard Health Expected to Determine Profitability in 2022

Jan 03, 2022

A partner with Polar Pork Farms says health status will be key in determining the economic strength of Saskatchewan's pork sector in the coming year. Amid feed costs that are more than double those of one year ago, lower global swine production resulting from losses due to African Swine Fever and herd reductions due to low returns, especially in China, have reduced global pork supplies.

Florian Possberg, a Partner with Polar Pork Farms, says we really didn't drop our production very much at all in Canada and should be in a good position through 2022 and into 2023.

Clip-Florian Possberg-Polar Pork Farms:

Locally, in Saskatchewan, we've benefitted from having just phenomenal health. Other parts of North American, including Manitoba and Ontario, have struggled with PED and PRRS and other challenges. We've been sparred that largely or almost exclusively in Saskatchewan so that's been a great benefit.

North America has benefitted because Russia and Europe and China and the whole of southeast Asia have challenged by African Swine Fever and even in parts with Foot and Mouth Disease. We've been sparred that in North America. We cross our fingers.

We do all we can, follow very strict biosecurity measures and monitoring so that we can keep those things out of our province. As long as we can keep those things out, we'll have an advantage but, because of the amount of freight going back and forth between Asia and North America, the chance of getting African Swine Fever is always there.

Source : Farmscape

Video: How farmers are protecting the soil and our food security | DW Documentary

For a long time, soil was all but ignored. But for years, the valuable humus layer has been thinning. Farmers in Brandenburg are clearly feeling the effects of this on their sandy fields. Many are now taking steps to prepare their farms for the future.

Years of drought, record rainfall and failed harvests: we are becoming increasingly aware of how sensitively our environment reacts to extreme weather conditions. Farmers' livelihoods are at stake. So is the ability of consumers to afford food.

For a few years now, agriculture that focuses solely on maximum yields has been regarded with increasing skepticism. It is becoming more and more clear just how dependent we are on healthy soils.

Brandenburg is the federal state with the worst soil quality in Germany. The already thin, fertile humus layer has been shrinking for decades. Researchers and farmers who are keen to experiment are combating these developments and looking for solutions. Priority is being given to building up the humus layer, which consists of microorganisms and fungi, as well as springtails, small worms and centipedes.

For Lena and Philipp Adler, two young vegetable farmers, the tiny soil creatures are invaluable helpers. On their three-hectare organic farm, they rely on simple, mechanical weed control, fallow areas where the soil can recover, and diversity. Conventional farmer Mark Dümichen also does everything he can to protect soil life on his land. For years, he has not tilled the soil after the harvest and sows directly into the field. His yields have stabilized since he began to work this way.

Isabella Krause from Regionalwert AG Berlin-Brandenburg is convinced after the experiences of the last hot summers that new crops will thrive on Brandenburg's fields in the long term. She has founded a network of farmers who are promoting the cultivation of chickpeas with support from the scientific community.