Banff Pork Seminar looks to the future

The 41st edition of the Banff Pork Seminar, launched four decades earlier by a small group of experts gathered around a table at Olds College, took a sharp focus on technological advancements needed for swine producers to carry their industry through the next 40 years.
Never has there been greater need to move boldly forward to address world hunger, said Elanco President Jeff Simmons, first to speak when the seminar opened in the Banff Centre's newly completed Kinnear Centre on the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 18.
Simmons set the stage for the rest of the week by telling people that food production will need to double by 2050 to meet the needs of a population that will be twice the size it is today.
Technology will account for 70 per cent of the increased production through better practices, better tools and better genetics, he said.
Throughout the remainder of the session, 660 registered delegates took an intimate look at the technologies and philosophies that will guide pork production for the next 40 years, including research in feeds and genetics as well as discussion of economic outlooks and the impact of mass communication on how people perceive the food they eat and make their purchase decisions.
The 2012 Banff Pork Seminar was also a stage for a number of announcements, including past chairman Jurgen Preugschas's announcement that he decided to leave his position as president of the Canada Pork Council on Tuesday, Jan. 17 to focus his energies on running his farm and on his work as a director with the board of the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency.
It fell upon Preugschas to announce that Saskatchewan MP Gerry Ritz, minister in charge of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, was unable to address the conference as had been previously announced. While unfortunate that the minister was unable to fill in the slot made for him on Friday morning, it is fortunate that his absence was due to a trip to Japan, where he was to work on market access issues and promote Canadian agriculture, said Preugschas.
Economic and market issues were addressed on Thursday morning by Karl Skold of Westside Economics in Omaha, Nebraska and Richard Shanks of Aon Risk Solutions in Kansas City, Missouri.
Wild swings in feed prices are among the uncertainties producers will face, said Skold.
"If you look at our latest quarterly report, it will suggest that we fed about 11 per cent less corn," said Skold.
"We also had a little bit bigger crop than expected, so it really made stocks bigger than expected – about 6.4 million metric tonnes, so we had a lot more grain than the market was expecting."
Worldwide, trade in pork expanded slightly in 2011, boosted by three significant events; an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in South Korea, increased imports in China to cool inflation and the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Skold forecasted a modest expansion in North American pork production this year, with slight increases in exports and production while per capita consumption of pork will decrease slightly.
Regardless of outlooks, there will always be risks because there is no way to predict or control the weather or other events that can have major impacts on the industry, he said.
Picking up from Skold's presentation, Shanks outlined seven different factors that drive risk; Consumer food safety concerns, increased complexity of the supply system, regulatory challenges, product recalls and the related costs, media coverage of accidental or malicious events and sustainability.
Shanks emphasized the need for a crisis management plan that is continually updated, appropriate and followed carefully – with the hope that it is never needed.
He set up the listeria crisis at Maple Leaf's sausage plant as a classic case of how to properly handle a crisis.
"Crisis management is so simple. You learn it in kindergarten."
A good crisis plan should start by cleaning up the mess, letting everybody know what you're doing, telling the truth, apologizing and not blaming others, said Shanks.
While risk management and economic forecasting are fundamental aspects of each new Banff Pork Seminar, there is also considerable emphasis placed on encouraging innovation and research, not just in universities and laboratories, but within the production stream as well.
This year, organizers announced the introduction of a new lectureship in the name of an Edmonton scientist – formerly from the United Kingdom – who is a world leader in swine reproduction as well as a past program director with Banff Pork.
The Banff Pork Seminar and the University of Alberta have set up the George Foxcroft Honourary Lectureship in Swine Production Research to host high profile speakers who share a goal of increasing production efficiency.
The Lectureship follows on the heels of the announcement last year that annual graduate student research awards would be named after nutritionist Ron Ball, who had retired from the University of Alberta and from his position as program director of the Banff Pork Seminar.
Awards from the annual 2012 R.O. Ball Graduate Student Competition went to Miranda Smit of the U of A in first place for her paper on the effect of 3n-PUFA supplementation to sows on fatty acid profiles in serum and embryos; Leila Dominquez from the University of Saskatchewan in second place for her work on evaluation of heating systems in grow-finish rooms and, in third spot, Laura Eastwood, also of the U of S, for her research on how the ration of dietary Omeg-6 to 3 fatty acids affect body fat mobilization in highly productive sows.
Also named for a former program director who left an indelible mark on the Banff Pork Seminar, the F.X. Aherne Award for Innovation recognizes improvements and inventions developed within the production system.
F.X. Aherne jackets were presented to three recipients this year.
Garrett Gerbrandt of the Puratone Corporation in Niverville, Man. earned his jacket for inventing a livestock-friendly loading system that incorporates loading plates that swing toward the loading ramp to funnel hogs through, avoiding pileups and injuries caused by pigs hitting walls on either side of the ramp.
Dale Heptonstall of Sunterra Farms in Acme was awarded for his invention of a tail docking length guide for the farrowing room. The guide improves consistency and supports better communication between farrowing and finishing departments, which in turn supports improved production efficiency. The guide also supports overall high standards of animal care.
Also awarded were Mary Haugh and Peter Jones of LMR Inc. for the Longarm, an animal handling tool that supports safer, easier and faster animal handling and is reported to cut up to 70 per cent from the time it takes to clear a pen.
Banff Pork Seminar returns to the Banff Centre on in 2013, from Jan. 15 to 18. •
— By Brenda Kossowan

cutlines:
Winners of the F.X. Aherne award for innovative pork production at the 2012 include, left to right, Dale Heptonstall of Sunterra Farms in Acme, AB.; Garrett Gerbrandt of the Puratone Corporation in Niverville, MB.; Michael Dyck, Chair of the Aherne award committee; and Mary Haugh and Peter Jones of LMR Inc. in Listowel, ON.