Death knell for the hog industry

"There are four or five of us left and it's my understand that most will be shutting their doors," Joe Van Vulpen said. "The government's been alluding to not giving farmers more help, now they're being quite blunt about it. They're basically saying 'go away, we're done helping you, survive on your own."

There has been very little help for the hog industry since 1998 other than direct payments to farmers and loans that only serve to put recipients into debt. Most farmers have been farming at a loss for several years.

"There's no money in the pork industry and the Maritime farms, having been hit for so long, are shutting down one after the other," he said. "It's the death of our industry. There's a mass exodus right now. I'd be hard-pressed to name 20 producers in the province. Six months from now there'll only be a dozen and they'll all be shipping to the United States."

Van Vulpen has downsized his operations over the years and has been sending his hogs to the United States for finishing.

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