Manitoba Pork GM Says 2021 Definitely An Interesting Year

Jan 03, 2022

Manitoba Pork General Manager Cam Dahl says 2021 was definitely an interesting year.

"There was a lot to deal with," he said. "Whether it was the impact of COVID, and of course some of that is ongoing. We're dealing with a PED outbreak at the end of the year. Feed costs as a result of the drought. It's been a really interesting year for farmers. That applies to farmers in all sectors in Manitoba. I think the word that I would use is uncertainty. Looking forward to 2022, that's probably the word that would be at the top of my list as well."

Dahl noted there are new barns going up across the province.

"There is continued growth. In 2021, we saw about a five per cent increase in production in pigs in Manitoba, that's a good sign."

He commented on the year ahead.

"Longer term, looking at responding to some of the public trust issues. We've just gone through a renewal of our strategic plan and it was a really good process to see where we need to focus on and some of the issues would be answering that public question of where does my food come from and how is it produced."

Dahl says they'll continue to monitor the African swine fever situation spreading across the globe.

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Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

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