Ontario Pork represents the 1,284 farmers who market 5.39 million hogs in the province. The organization is engaged in many areas, including research, government representation, environmental issues, consumer education and food quality assurance. Ontario Pork is the first livestock commodity group in the province to set social responsibility benchmarks, demonstrating pork producers’ commitment to sustainable farming. Ontario’s pork industry “farm to fork” generates $2.7 billion in economic output and 17,015 in full-time equivalent jobs.
The Ontario Pork Producers’ Marketing Board (OPPMB) was formed in 1946 at the request of producers. The provincial government enacted the Ontario Hog Marketing Scheme – 1946 under the Farm Products Control Act.
This legislation, now called the Farm Products Marketing Act, provides the legal authority for hog producers to organize and control their own affairs through the Ontario Pork Producers’ Marketing Board. The Act and accompanying regulations empowers the Board to market hogs and defines how it operates. The powers delegated to Ontario Pork are outlined in Ontario Regulation 439/10 and 403/10, and amendments .For example, the organization can collect and share aggregate data and collect license fees on all classes of hogs. The collected fees are used for services that benefit the entire Ontario swine industry including research, environment, consumer education, and policy and government regulation. The Farm Products Marketing Act covers activities within Ontario. The federal government passed the Agriculture Products Act in 1979 to extend the Board’s powers beyond Ontario. This Act grants authority to Ontario Pork in respect to inter-provincial and trade export of live hogs.
