Pork Sector Facing Severe Market Challenges

Canada's pork sector is facing severe market challenges due to COVID-19.

 

Rick Bergmann is chair of the Canadian Pork Council.

 

"We've had some plants close down temporarily because of COVID-19," he said. "That backs up the product on the farm and that just causes more and more problems. We're thankful that we haven't had any major continued closures like our friends to the south, however that said, even when they're going through some of these challenges in the U.S. as well, that has a direct link to ramifications here in some markets in our country."

 

Bergmann says the federal government needs to act now to help producers.

 

"We're at the cusp of something that is extremely significant," he commented. "We're at a different point where some very difficult decisions are going to have to be made in regards to the family farms unless there's going to be an interest by our federal government to help us through this very significant COVID storm."

 

Bergmann discussed the issue Wednesday over the phone with Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.