"It’s on the downside of the cycle, the Canadian dollar is fairly high and input costs are going up," the minister said in an interview during a daylong visit to Nova Scotia, part of which he spent meeting with Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly.

"They also have some specific problems . . . chronic wasting disease and some other things," Mr. Strahl said of the hog industry. He added that the problems are complicated by the fact that markets are changing from fresh meat to more processed food.

"All of these things are happening almost at the same time, and it’s causing some real transitional problems in the pork industry."

Mr. Strahl said he has formed a small working group with the Canadian Pork Council to discuss what can be done.

"Some of the problems are cyclical issues that are hard to address, but maybe there are some other things that we can do as well. . . . We’re working with the Canadian Pork Council to come up with some specific things that we can do to help them out.

"But clearly there’s a real problem in the hog industry."

Source: The Chronicle Herald