To answer the previous question, why do we have so many hogs? There were too many people who could make money in the hog industry buying grain at less than the cost of production. In Chinese production--not to pick on China--or in other countries, it was cheaper for them to raise the hogs by subsidized world grain and grow them. That's changing.
Four years ago we could buy corn...and we sell corn. We took this hit four years ago in the grains and oilseeds sector. A farmer who just raised hogs, whether in Ontario, in the States, or anywhere in the world, couldn't not make money raising hogs. When you're buying corn at $120 a tonne, let's say, and that was a pretty good number, and turn around and sell that pig for.... Corn today is worth $190. Those people who just buy it to value-add, that money is not going to be there. Farms like ours that are value-added--we grow the grain, we feed it, we use manure to fertilize--we've dug deep pockets. The hole just can't get any deeper.
With respect to the City of Toronto, I believe the GTA has one of the biggest food processing networks in the world. Burlington has half our hog slaughter in the province. If we can't provide 100,000 hogs again in Ontario numbers, we can't keep Burlington, or Quality; or somebody has to close. Then we're going to be in this situation again.
I really think farmers have subsidized cheap food for too many years in this country, and we need help now.
Thank you.