The Banff Pork Seminar, held annually in Banff, Alberta attracts visitors and speakers from around the world.

The 2009 seminar is slated for January 20 to 23.

Dr. Ron Ball, a professor of swine nutrition with the University of Alberta and the Banff Pork Seminar program chair, says this year's presentations will feature information to help producers cope with the current economic situation.

Dr. Ron Ball-Banff Pork Seminar

It's been great financial difficulties for the last almost two years now for pork producers and the Banff program is really trying to take that into account.

We're really emphasizing this year competitiveness and reducing the cost of production and information that will help producers plan things on pork industry prices and production forecasts for Canada, the US and globally.

For example feed costs.

We have two sessions on feed costs that will save five dollars a sow or two or three dollars per pig.

We have ones on where to target your efforts in terms of reducing your production costs, ones on how to reduce your disease load, others on hedging, others on what is being done locally and nationally to promote Canadian pork and perhaps increase sales.

These are all really key things that anybody involved in the industry needs to know about and really needs to be there this year.

Dr. Ball notes, in light of the difficult times facing producers, the early registration deadline has been extended from November 22 to Friday, December 5, tomorrow.

Additional information and registration forms can be obtained at banffpork.ca.