For many pork producers, participation in the “Canadian Quality Assurance” (CQA) scheme has boosted productivity, according to the national CQA coordinator, Dawn LeBlanc.
The scheme was designed by the Canadian Pork Council in a bid to enable swine producers to adhere to high production standards and guarantee food safety. By the end of Q1 this year, nearly 60% of producers were registered to work under the scheme.
LeBlanc revealed: “Even before the program was launched when we had a pilot program operating in several of the provinces […] we had a couple of producers who didn’t have a herd health program […] and they decided, when they started on the pilot, that they would actually start a herd health program.
“We’ve had producers report back to us with a lot of positives other than just maintaining a market and some place to sell their hogs.”
LeBlanc believes that the CQA has changed the approach of many producers and encouraged record keeping.
