Good afternoon. I'm a bit nervous, so I'll try to stay on track with my notes here.
I'd like to thank you first for inviting me to the table today for this serious issue. I'm proud to be in our nation's capital just a few short days before we honour our veterans who have served and continue to serve our country. So it was quite a walk up the lane today, knowing that next week you will honour them. So thank you. The timing was perfect for me.
Because I only have 10 minutes to share my story, I would welcome any questions regarding possible solutions and comments during the question period.
My name is Leza Matheson-Wolters. My husband, Ilke, and I own and operate a hog farm on Prince Edward Island, and we have two children. My husband is a Dutch immigrant who has farmed his entire life. He emigrated with his family to Canada at the age of 15. We have been married 23 years, since the age of 19. We've worked extremely hard over those years and we're very proud of what we do.
After we got married, we went to work for a hog farmer. His dad was a dairy farmer who had been given an opportunity to work in rural P.E.I. on a hog farm, and we took that opportunity at age 19. Meanwhile, I attended university and obtained my Bachelor of Arts in psychology and political science, and then my social work degree when I moved to Dalhousie. After I finished university in 1995, we bought the house next to the hog operation where he was employed.
In 2002, we purchased the 500-sow, farrow-to-finish multiplier breeder operation. It was a huge undertaking. Our years of dedication had paid off. We worked our way from having nothing at age 19 to being educated and successful business owners. Then in 2005, it was discovered that our animals had contracted disease, PRRS and pneumonia. It was devastating. We could not believe that all our hard work had been ended by disease. We had lost our multiplier breeder status and the associated market, and our cost of production went through the roof from purchasing antibiotics and other medication, and from decreased litters and the number of days it took to go to market.
We knew we had to do something to decrease our costs, produce a healthier meat for consumption, and set ourselves up in a niche market—because the prices weren't great then either. In 2007, we partnered with Dr. Daniel Hurnik from UPEI. He's a renowned veterinarian in animal health at the vet college in Prince Edward Island. Together we pioneered a disease eradication program, an innovative program in which we attempted to eliminate our major diseases—just the two of them—while maintaining the genetic value of our herd, which we were well known for in our community. In other words, we didn't want to sell our breeding stock or our sows, because they were our livelihood and we were very proud of the genetics we had.
It took months of very long, hard hours, researching, writing, and coming up with strict schedules with Dr. Hurnik. We were very proud of the farm community; they really rallied behind us. They gave us free barns, and we moved. It was a whole schedule, a European model, that we had pioneered in Prince Edward Island. In 2006, we were the first farm to successfully complete this process, and today we still have disease-free animals. That was quite a feat for us.
We operate an extremely efficient and fiscally, socially, and environmentally responsible farm. We produce a high-quality, safe product. We treat our staff with dignity, giving them a fair wage for their work. We have an alternative source of energy to cut our fuel costs. My husband works for little or no wages, every day, 15 hours a day.
Two summers ago, we knew that prices were poor and that we couldn't even afford to eat. We were feeding the nation with good, safe, genetic food, but we had no income in our own family or household. So we decided to go to the bank and remortgage our house and buy a local restaurant. We would supply good local meat through a buy-local campaign, which we engaged in two summers ago. We bought the restaurant. I now employ 30 people and run the restaurant four months a year. It is successful, and we're quite proud of that. Our local community is quite proud of it too, and they're very much behind us.
However, as I am before you today, I am losing everything I've worked for. We are not fairly compensated for our product; we have suffered for years from prices well below our cost of production, for no fault of our own. To feed fellow Canadians, we are competing with countries that do not share the same rules and regulations. We are a highly regulated business. With labour laws, safety standards, health standards, environmental standards, social standards, high energy costs, no feed subsidies, and low prices, we are in a disadvantaged position.
So the question today, as I sit before you, is how does my farm survive? If my cost of sending a pig to market is $1.55—which is the mean cost of production, or COP—and I'm receiving 95¢ a kilo, can I make it? No, I can't. I can't do it.
So where do I turn and where do I go from here? We need farm priority—and I stress, farm priority—federal programming that meets the needs of farmers. We're not looking willy-nilly for a handout. Currently, we have the HILLRP program, the hog industry loan loss reserve program, and the HFTP, the hog farm transition program. Neither of these programs will help, or save, the existence of my farm. The HILLRP program lends $85 per hog. I would first need to find a bank that would agree to consolidate my loans for a term of 60 months or less; but it would be at a higher interest rate than I have now, with the stipulation that I would pay off my APP first. But with our size of operation, it would mean that I'd first have to find a bank that would agree to this, then I would have to take a higher interest rate and pay off my APP, and then I wouldn't have any money left over. Therefore, the program is of no use to my operation. The result is that it will make things worse, not better, for me.
Some might argue that we could apply for more APP if we took the HILLRP. Well, I can't do that either, because APP is not for those in severe economic hardship, and I would have to get the bank to sign off on a first-priority agreement—the same bank that just consolidated my loans—and that's just not going to happen.
Or, because I can't participate in those two programs, I still have the HFTP program. With this program, I would need to realize enough money to clean out my barns and be able to meet the minimum payments, loan demands, and expenses, and then repopulate my herd in three years. All the hard work my husband and I have done to keep our disease-free genetics would be lost, as my herd would be slaughtered. I understand this process is to decrease the number of hogs in the marketplace by approximately 6.5 million hogs. Supply and demand, I get it.
Well, Atlantic Canada has never contributed to the oversupply in Canada—and for argument's sake, if we had contributed to oversupply, we have already significantly decreased our supply since. On P.E.I., we have gone from approximately 203 producers to 30 producers currently—over 200 producers to 30—and approximately 15% of those producers represent 90% of production. Our production has decreased by 50% now, so we are not contributing to the oversupply in Canada.
We have met the mandate of the HFTP program without the program. We have transitioned. What the hog transition program will do for us is to become an HFEP, a hog farm exit program. We need a phase-two approach in Atlantic Canada. If we decrease our production in Atlantic Canada, we will run the risk of losing our closest plant. On P.E.I., our plant has in fact closed, and now we ship off-island.
It will also jeopardize the existence of farming on Prince Edward Island. Agriculture on P.E.I. is approximately 11.7% of our GDP. Atlantic Canada is unique; it is not in the same position as the rest of the country. A one-size-fits-all approach is not going to help us. These programs will not help my farm survive; they will shut me down. I need help.
It is very difficult to explain the emotional side of this. For me personally, the HFTP is not as I mentioned, a transition program, but a program that will put me out of business. Everything my husband and I have worked for will be slaughtered and lost. The bid process, which my husband and I looked into and participate in, feels like playing Russian roulette. I am holding a gun to my head and I have to decide whether or not I'm going to pull the trigger, but I have no idea how many bullets are in the barrel or what the bullets are even worth. It's a bid process. It's inhumane. So if I pull the trigger, will I be successful? This is how the bid process has made me feel.
Folks, each one of you was successful when you went door to door asking for the nod to govern our country in the best interests of Canadians. You were the chosen few; you were elected. You were elected to represent us, and with that representation came the privilege of making decisions affecting me as a Canadian and hog farmers. Your responsibility is to make decisions that affect the health and prosperity of Canadians. As I sit before you today, a hard-working, successful hog farmer, I ask for your support. I am trying to save my livelihood, my farm, my house, my agricultural community, everything we have worked for. I am tired, tired of wondering if this will be the last year my kids will spend in their home.
Thank you for your time.