In May 2010, as part of federal support announced for the Canadian pork industry by Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz at the University of Manitoba's National Centre for Livestock and the Environment, the Canadian Swine Exporters Association received funding to go after new markets including the European Union, Russia and Latin America.

Association executive director Rosemary Smart says expanding the international market for Canadian swine genetics is a win-win situation.

Rosemary Smart-Canadian Swine Exporters Association

The Canadian Swine Exporters Association is a trade association made up of exporters from across Canada who are in the business of exporting pig genetics, swine genetics around the world.

We've been working with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to get the health protocols up to date so that we're able to make swine exporting feasible for our country.

We've been working at promoting the swine genetics around the world through trade shows and market seminar programs that we've been invited to speak at.

Russia has been active for about five years or seven years for us.

China, we've just started making our shipments in the last year.

I think Canada has about 30 per cent of the new swine genetics that is going into China.

Ms Smart says initiatives spearheaded by the Canadian Swine Health Board aimed at reducing the incidence of disease within the Canadian swine herd have improved health conditions and strengthened our genetics which gives us a better product to sell.

She says because Canadian genetic suppliers already have access to markets within the European Union, efforts by the federal government to secure a Canada-European Union free trade agreement will not have a big impact on swine genetic exporters but market access is always an important factor and the free trade agreements will help.