Last week trade was among the items on the agenda as pork industry representatives gathered in Minneapolis for the Canada-US Upper Midwest Pork Industry Summit.

George Matheson, the Chair of Manitoba Pork, observes there's a great deal of common ground among Canadian and American pork producers when it comes to the issue of trade.

George Matheson-Manitoba Pork:

The Trump administration and the way the media, I would say, at times blows things out of proportion makes it sound like doom and gloom and it's a wild card in the future.

But for the time being, 20 per cent f the pork consumed is American pork, our weanling pigs out of Manitoba, approximately three million a year continue to flow down and are welcomed by Minnesota and Iowa finishers so trade is moving well.

There's a fact that 2.5 to 2.6 million hogs are moving through plants every week, which is a cumbersome amount of pigs, means that demand is good and world wide trade out of this continent has been moving well.

Prices are reasonably good right now and that was not expected three or four months ago and that's mainly due to trade.

We all feel that and hope that Mr Trump is a business man and realizes the value of free trade and will continue to be as it is today.

Matheson says 12 years of trade missions to the US have put a face to the Canadian industry and US producers recognize Canadian producers are not getting any government handouts and are at the mercy of the market place.

He says producers in both countries realize the importance of trade and value the essence of free trade.