Farmscape for January 2, 2018

The past Chair of the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board expects matters related to trade to be one of the major issue in 2018 for Saskatchewan's pork sector.
In 2017 issues related to trade, including discussions surrounding to the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership emerged as key issues.
Retiring Director and Sask Pork past-Chair Florian Possberg notes Saskatchewan exports 70 to 80 percent of the pork it produces so trade is very important to the pork sector.

Clip-Florian Possberg-Saskatchewan Pork Development Board:
Being able to export is very significant for us.
If we weren't able to export our industry would have to shrink rather dramatically and, of course, we've had a very turbulent year in trade.
NAFTA is being revisited and the United States and Mexico are either one, two or three of our export destinations for Canadian pork so NAFTA is a big issue there.
Number one, two or three is also Japan and the TPP discussions going on.
We do have a preferred supplier status with Japan now.
However, if we're not successful in being part of a TPP, we're fearing that our ability to compete with places like the United States and Mexico and the EU will be severely hampered so those are very big question marks around the trade thing.

Possberg says it's not a bad news story yet because all of those things could turn out to be just fine.
On the other hand he says, if things go wrong, they could end up being very problematic for us.
For Farmscape. Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork