Thank you, Mr. Bergmann.
Due to the temporary shutdown of processing plants in Quebec and Ontario, more than 100,000 pigs that should have been processed are instead stuck on farms. It is costing farmers money to feed those pigs. Their welfare is at risk and, adding insult to injury, they are losing value as they get further from the target market weight requirements.
This backlog of hogs and the COVID-19 market disruptions are being felt on two major fronts.
First, it has driven prices down and pushed many farmers into a cash crisis. While the price has recently strengthened, it is still seasonally low and still well below the cost of production. Farmers are unable to sell their hogs and must continue to feed them to avoid euthanizing them. For some, such as my colleague Mr. Bergmann, who specializes in early weaned piglets, it is hard to find a market.
Second, it has forced some producers to take more drastic actions as their losses become even more unsustainable. We know that farmers across the country have been forced to dispose of animals because they have not found a market for them. For a farmer, that means a lost income and added costs. For Canadian families, it means that good food has gone to waste.
Other farmers have taken steps to reduce their production. For some this means not breeding sows and for others it means aborting sows that were close to farrowing. Both situations result in reduced incomes and put an increased psychological strain on farmers, a situation made even worse because food is being taken out of the supply chain.
Should it continue, Canada will see reduced exports and a greater reliance on imports, and in extreme cases the reduction in production will contribute to a food shortage. Producers have been calling for emergency actions to help us get through the crisis. Based on losses of $30 to $50 per pig, we've asked the government for crisis payments of $20 per hog.
We have said from the beginning that it's up to the government to figure out the most efficient and effective means to get the money to pork producers as quickly as possible. Pork producers have long called for changes to the programs. We also strongly urge the government to make the changes necessary so that payments, including interim payments, can flow more quickly. Without these changes, the program will offer little support.
We heard that the business risk management suite offers farmers $1.6 billion in support. However, our focus is on pork production, not on all agriculture. Based on decades of experience with farm programs, we know this level of support is not available to pork producers—