Farmscape for August 6, 2019

The Chair of Sask Pork says the organization will be focusing on the value of hog manure as an organic fertilizer as it works to build the province's hog production base.
Last week the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board announced Mark Ferguson, the organization's former Manager of Industry and Policy Analysis has been named to replace retiring General Manager Neil Ketilson effective August 1st.
Sask Pork Chair Casey Smit says moving forward the organization will continue to look for ways to build the hog production base in the province.

Clip-Casey Smit-Saskatchewan Pork Development Board:
Sask Pork just recently went though a strategic planning session to set the vision for the next few years.
One is to continue on the work that has been done in the past which is really to look at opportunities to develop the hog industry.
That process has been underway and Mark was involved in that as well and so he'll continue on that mission of carrying out that strategic vision.
We look for opportunities to see how we get more hog production base in Saskatchewan with its ample land base and feed supply.
It's been interesting.
There's been a real interest in the value of hog manure.
This past year, at the Ag in Motion event that they had in early July, Sask Pork was able to put some plots up earlier this year and apply some hog manure to those plots and to show what the impact of that manure is on crops.
We've had interest from other groups about manure and the value of manure but in particular from the organic community.
We think there's a real opportunity, what that hog manure can do and partner with some of the organic producers out there on establishing barns in their network to give them that opportunity to put manure on as an organic input onto their farms.

Smit acknowledges the biggest challenge facing the pork sector is escalating infrastructure and building costs.
He says that challenge is being addressed through a number of avenues including discussions with government on bringing services to greenfield operations.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

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