Our industry has faced serious challenges in terms of our ability to compete in the world market in the recent past, including a strong Canadian dollar, historically high grain prices, and a world economic slowdown. However, we have managed to come through all of that with a smaller but highly competitive hog sector, and we must not lose sight of the Canadian hog industry's long-term interest. The world economy will continue to evolve, and we cannot afford to overlook or suspend any efforts that can improve our market access.
I would like to add that the industry has turned a corner over the past 12 months due to the lower feed costs and an increased hog price due to a virus affecting production in the U.S. principally. These two conditions have allowed producers to establish a margin and stabilized the producers and the production base in our industry.
We appreciate the government's determination to follow through and complete the deal with Korea. The deal is good for the hog sector and it is in the best interests for Canada and Korea to sign.
Pork is a key component of the Canadian agrifood sector and provincial economies. Canada's pork industry is made up of 7,300 hog farms with cash receipts of $4 billion. Hog producers account for 8% of the total farm cash receipts and are the fifth largest source of farm income in Canada.