Farmscape for June 29, 2012   (Episode 4185)

A study conducted by the George Morris Centre has shown Canadian pork exports contribute over nine billion dollars annually to the Canadian economy.

The George Morris Centre has completed a study on behalf of the Canadian Pork Council which examined the value of Canadian pork exports.

Kevin Grier, a senior market analyst with the George Morris Centre, says the study found the economic development associated with exporting pork contributes about 9.28 billion dollars annually to Canada's economy.

Clip-Kevin Grier-George Morris Centre:
As a starting point we looked at the fact that there were 3.2 billion dollars worth of exports in 2011 and again these are pork as opposed to live animals.

We looked solely at pork.

To start with that as a starting point we used data from Statistics Canada and Agriculture Canada and provincial marketings and so on about where those exports went, how much they were worth and what it all means back to producers and by looking at that in particular we found that the exports themselves probably increased producers' bottom lines by about anywhere from 20 to 30 dollars.

The other things that we showed when we looked at these 3.2 billion dollars worth of exports was that they create an awful lot of jobs.

In fact according to the Statistics Canada input-output multiplier those exports generated about 45 thousand jobs in Canada and they generated nearly two billion dollars worth of wages and salaries and they had a net economic contribution to Canada's GDP of about 3.5 billion dollars.

In other words, above and beyond the 3.2 billion dollars in export sales, that economic activity generated an additional value adding to the Canadian GDP of another 3.5 billion dollars.

Grier notes the fact that exports account for 60 percent of Canadian pork production suggests that, if Canada's pork industry is to grow and prosper, exports are going to play a big role in that future.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council