Manitoba’s hog farmers saw a profitable 2025, with strong prices and reasonable feed costs. What’s behind positive margins? Within North America, diseases like Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) and Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) have been driving demand for healthy Manitoba isoweans. African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreaks in competing production areas have disrupted traditional international trading patterns. Strong production of feed grains, like corn and soybeans, have helped keep input costs at reasonable levels. Pork also serves as an affordable protein option at a time when food inflation is a top-of-mind issue for consumers around the world. But will this last?
There are significant areas of uncertainty in the key variables that make up hog margins. 90 percent of the pigs raised in Manitoba are exported, either as live animals into the U.S. or in pork packages around the world. International trade is being upended by growing nationalism and protectionism. Examples include potential tariffs from the U.S., tariffs on exports to China, country of origin labelling in the U.S., which will discriminate against Manitoba’s pigs, and non-tariff trade barriers blocking our access to Europe.
These trade uncertainties are why Manitoba Pork places a significant emphasis on Protecting Your Markets. We are actively working with other pork organizations and governments on outreach to our U.S. customers, like Iowa and Minnesota. We are driving for a greater focus on a strategic approach to the upcoming review of the Canadian-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). We are reminding governments that food and beverage processing is the largest manufacturing industry in Canada and cannot be ignored in our national commentary on trade. We are encouraging collaboration across commodities and across the Canada-U.S. border aimed at preserving the integrated North American market for agriculture and agri-food products.
Research estimates that in 2024 PRRS cost the U.S. pork sector over $1.6 billion. The last sustained outbreak of PED in Manitoba came with a $100 million price tag. Protecting Your Herd is a key priority area for Manitoba Pork. Manitoba’s pork sector learnt some key lessons from the last PED outbreak. The first is that the entire value chain needs to work together if we are going to effectively protect the health of animals under our care. The second key lesson is more difficult. Sometimes, parts of the value chain will need to take actions that are not in their short-term fiscal interest but are in the long-term interest of the sector. This collaboration demonstrates that industry is willing to do the right thing even when there is a short-term cost. The result of this teamwork is Manitoba’s PED Elimination Plan, which has been effective in stopping disease spread. Farmers and industry stakeholders should be recognized and congratulated for their collaboration on biosecurity and disease prevention and containment efforts.
There are some parts of society that don’t like modern agriculture. They would like to see production practices shift back to the times of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers. This shift would have a negative impact on the environment, a negative impact on animal care, and a negative impact on jobs and the economy. However, the messages on the positive contributions of modern agriculture can be drowned out by repeated misinformation, especially on digital platforms. Misinformation can have an impact on legislators and policy makers, which is why Manitoba Pork spends time Protecting Your Right to Farm. We start by empowering producers to confidently tell their story to the public through initiatives like the Pork Proud Ambassador Program. We regularly engage with politicians, rural municipalities, and community members, with a focus on building, expanding, and supporting hog farms.
Protecting Your Right to Farm is also a key driver behind programs like PigSAFE and PigCARE. Customers are asking more questions on how their food is produced and these programs help answer these questions and the subsequent interest by government regulators. Hog farmers are doing the right thing, and we help get that fact out to the public.
We know that continued profitability in the hog sector can be a challenge. Which is why Sustaining Your Profitability is a focus area for Manitoba Pork. We support production-focused research aimed at increasing on-farm efficiency and profitability. We are actively looking for solutions to problems that can impact both your short-term profitability and long-term investment goals. Access to labour and the cost of building construction in Manitoba are just two examples.
Manitoba Pork is a steward of your levy dollars. Responsibly Minding Your Money is our top priority. If you have any questions, concerns, comments, or suggestions on how Manitoba Pork is contributing to the growth and development of our industry, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Our door is always open.
