Farmscape for January 6, 2025

A partner with Polar Pork suggests the federal government needs to make changes to policies on illegal immigration and the illicit sale of drugs in order to avoid the imposition of a 25 percent U.S. tariff on Canadian and Mexican pork imports.
Due primarily to lower hog numbers than those projected in the spring and summer in the USDA's Hogs and Pigs Report, 2024 was a better year financially pork producers than 2023 which was a disastrous year.
Florian Possberg, a partner with Polar Pork, notes 2025 looks good but U.S. President elect Donald Trump has indicated he plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on Canadian and Mexican pork imports in response to the inaction of those countries on illegal immigration and illegal drugs.

Quote-Florian Possberg-Polar Pork:
We're a huge exporter of pork from Canada.
United States is our largest importer of processed pork.
They also take something like five million plus live hogs into the U.S. from Canada so, a 25 percent sudden reduction in our income would be a huge burden.
Our prices even for the market hogs that our processors pay in Canada tends to be a U.S. price less basis so freight and border fees and now, if there's a 25 percent tariff on top of that, it would likely reduce even the market hogs that are shipped and processed here in Canada.
We seem to have a dysfunctional federal government right now.
There's turmoil in Ottawa that probably puts us in a much weaker position than we should be.
I think our provincial leaders are stepping up but there's only so much they can do.
It appears from our vantage point that Ottawa's got to get their program together and act in a way that satisfies the Americans.
We're helpless.
We're innocent bystanders in this dispute.

Possberg says pork producers have their fingers and toes crossed that Canada’s politicians will work out the details and the tariff will not happen.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers