Certainly.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Olymel is already working with national associations, industry and governments on the issue of African swine fever. I will therefore try to avoid duplication with other presentations, and will focus on our own message instead.
For a company like ours that exports more than 50% of its pork products, the appearance and reporting of a case of AFS could have disastrous consequences for the company: a drop in sales of almost 50%, or about $2 billion; a reduction in the number of jobs by about 7,000; a decrease in slaughter volumes of about 50%.
This would, of course, have a major impact on all Olymel's service providers and suppliers. It would also lead to a significant loss of income for producers and farm families in all regions of Quebec. Finally, as the storage capacity for fresh and frozen products is already saturated, commercial hogs and piglets would need to be disposed of, and sow farrowing would have to be stopped.
In our opinion, it is almost unthinkable that a single case of African swine fever in wild boars, or on a hobby farm, could lead to the complete closure of Canada's borders.
One of Olymel's recommendations is that the federal government be very active in lobbying the World Organisation for Animal Health to address the fact that ASF should be on the list of diseases causing such trade disruption. Given that African swine fever has no implications for human health, but rather for swine herds, much like porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), why not treat ASF like PED, and let the industry deal with the disease and its eradication, with no disproportionate impact on all the markets?
Olymel applauds and congratulates the government for its proactive role and the speed with which tangible actions have been taken to prevent ASF from entering Canada. All those efforts are necessary, of course.
However, we have concerns about the additional control measures put in place in seaports. To date, we have not had a concrete answer on the measures in place to detect illegal feed entries from countries affected by ASF. In light of what was discovered in the United States a few weeks ago, we can suspect that feed is passing freely through the controls in place.
A lot of work needs to be done to prepare for a prompt response in the event of ASF. Our preparedness and prompt response are essential to quickly containing the disease. However, a number of questions remain unanswered in terms of the key aspects of an intervention plan.
For example, what about epidemiological and screening investigations, increased biosecurity and cleaning and disinfection activities, quarantine and movement controls, mass depopulation and euthanasia on farms, and options for the disposal of carcasses following mass depopulation?
On March 27, Olymel held a discussion forum in Winnipeg with all stakeholders in the western Canadian pork industry. A number of the issues above remain outstanding. The role of government in preparing is important. Industry needs some officials to answer those questions.
The World Organisation for Animal Health has provided for zoning and compartmentalization as tools for countries to restore the security of international trade in the event of an infectious disease outbreak.
Olymel believes in the importance of having the compartments in place before a case occurs. The zones, however, will be established during an ASF outbreak. Olymel would like to stress the importance of the recent agreement with the U.S. on enforcing the zones to allow trade between the two countries to continue. The efforts to reach an agreement must continue with our primary partners. We are thinking mainly of Japan, China and Mexico.
Olymel is a member of the working group on zoning and compartmentalization. The pork industry, the Canadian Pork Council, the Canadian Meat Council, Canada Pork International, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have a coordinated approach to zoning and compartmentalization in Canada.
Finally, the government has an important role to play in helping the industry define compartments and negotiate agreements with the major countries to which we export. It is important to quickly determine whether the Canadian pork sector will be able to establish compartments and whether the Canadian traceability system is sufficiently reliable to allow for setting up zones and recognizing compartments.
Thank you very much for your attention. I am ready to answer any questions you may have.