Hog producers and their supporters protest outside Province House in Halifax on Tuesday.

An Annapolis Valley farmer who says he can’t afford to feed his 1,700 hogs much longer loaded five piggies onto a truck Tuesday morning and drove to Halifax for a rally.

"I’m prepared to leave them, if anybody wants to feed these things," Terry Beck, who has operated a hog farm in North Kingston since 1979, told reporters outside Province House.

"I need immediate relief from the government or I’m out of business in two or three months."

Hundreds of Nova Scotia farmers and their families and supporters packed the street near the legislature to draw attention to the troubled state of farming in general and the pork industry in particular.

Pork Nova Scotia estimates 60 per cent of the province’s hog farmers will be forced into bankruptcy over the next few months unless the government comes up with $6 million in bridge financing for producers.

Agriculture Minister Brooke Taylor says the province has already contributed $11 million to the pork industry since 2003 and hog farmers will benefit further from a $9.7-million farm assistance program announced in December that takes effect in April.

Source: The ChronicleHerald.ca