Good afternoon. My name is Rick Bergmann. I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to appear before the standing committee and provide the perspectives of the Canadian Pork Council and producers on the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As I mentioned, my name is Rick Bergmann. I'm a pork producer in Manitoba and the chair of the Canadian Pork Council. I'm joined here by René Roy, first vice-chair and pork producer from Quebec.
The Canadian Pork Council represents the views of Canada's 7,000 hog farmers, hog producers. Before I get too far into this, I want to let you know that there's a significant amount of hurt happening right now in our sector, and COVID-19 has made a bad situation worse for all of the producers here.
I'd like to remind the group this afternoon that the direct farm gate sales of Canadian pork in 2016 totalled over $4.1 billion and created over 100,000 jobs. COVID-19 has put the pork sector in a free fall by disrupting supply chains and driving down the prices of hogs. The risk of major market failure increases as the pandemic drags on, and that's a huge, dark cloud over our heads.
COVID-19 has quickly pushed many farms into a cash crisis from which they won't be able to cover the costs of operating their businesses. It's important to remember what our business really is. We're feeding people, plain and simple. We raise pigs to create a safe, high-quality protein Canadians can rely on to feed their families. That's what we are all about.
As a result of this price decline, hog farmers are now losing money on every animal they market. On average, producers stand to lose $30 to $50 per pig they sell in 2020. That doesn't maybe sound like a lot, but once you add the numbers up, it's overwhelming. The impact of this scenario on the farmers' financial and mental health really cannot be understated.
I certainly appreciate the magnitude of this crisis and the number of issues the government has to deal with. It's enormous; it's daunting. On numerous occasions our government has talked about support to farmers and the food sector, but really, little has been done to help us weather the storm, and that's why we're here this afternoon. Our producers need government to take immediate action so that they can continue to pay their bills, feed their animals, keep their family businesses alive and continue producing food. We now need our government to help us in this very significant crisis. We cannot let the industry fall by the wayside because of federal and provincial governments' inaction. We all deserve better.
On some farms right now, they're very distraught with the things going on. In the Maritimes we had a farm that needed to euthanize animals that were ready for slaughter, so animals that were 270 pounds were euthanized, and they would be found to be put in a landfill. It's a tragic, horrific event that producers are going through.
In other parts of the region, they're struggling to find homes for them, as you know what has happened with some processing plants because of the COVID virus. In the province where I'm from, we have producers aborting sows. We have producers euthanizing little piglets, and that's of grave concern. At this very point in time, it's a significant crisis. Again, without our government's help, the future of the pork family farm is looking very bleak. I'll stop there.
I'd like to thank the committee for the invitation to appear before you today and for your attention, and I look forward to answering any questions that René and I could answer.