Manitoba pork, canola producers hold steady amid heavy tariffs

Winnipeg Free Press

24-06-2025

A slab of back bacon from Natural Raised Pork comes with a waitlist.
Ian Smith points to tariffs. Since the United States placed levies on imports from Canada, Manitobans have increasingly been calling Smith about his farm near Argyle, some 40 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.
'There's more people wanting to support local and I'm one of few people that do what I'm doing,' said Smith, 62.
SUPPLIED
Ian Smith at his Natural Raised Pork farm near Argyle
He estimates 90 per cent of his pork products are bought by Manitoba households; the latter goes to a packing plant. Last year, it was a 50-50 split.
Smith works alone, hustling to meet the four-to-six week waitlist that's accumulated. He keeps hundreds of feeder pigs and a couple dozen sows; it's a relatively small operation, he noted.
'If there's any mistakes to be made, there's only one person to blame and that's me,' he said with a laugh.
Smith doesn't export to China — so he's shielded from that nation's levies still hanging over the Canadian industry.
Elsewhere, hog operations exporting to the Asian country are swallowing 25 per cent tariffs to keep business steady. Manitoba Pork, the organization representing roughly 600 farms, anticipates seeing lower revenues this year.
Meanwhile, Statistics Canada has forecast a 6.4 per cent drop in Manitoba's seeded areas of canola this year. Products using canola oil and canola meal are targets of a 100 per cent tariff, alongside peas.
Last week marked three months of the Chinese tariffs.
'This needs to be the most important file for Canada's minister of agriculture,' Cam Dahl, general manager of Manitoba Pork, said of Chinese and American tariffs. 'It needs to be the top file for the government of Manitoba.'
Dahl hasn't yet seen layoffs or slowed production. China enacted the levies in response to a 100 per cent surtax Canada placed on the Asian nation's electric vehicles last year, following the United States.
Much of the goods shipped to China aren't wanted elsewhere. The country accepts offal, which includes organs like heart. Manitoba operators are largely covering 25 per cent tariffs to continue trade, Dahl said.
Maple Leaf Foods and HyLife mass produce pork products in Manitoba. Neither company responded to questions by print deadline.
In its first-quarter report, Maple Leaf highlighted increased year-over-year sales and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Tariffs could impact its positive 2025 outlook, it underscored.
Manitoba exports between eight million and 8.5 million pigs annually. About $500 million worth of exports travel to China on average, Dahl said.
It's the fifth-biggest export country for Manitoba pork, following Japan, the United States, South Korea and Mexico.
'We're an exporting-dependent industry in an export-dependent province,' Dahl said.
From his viewpoint, Manitoba pork production levels have remained the same. Exports to China dipped nationally year-over-year in April, StatCan data show.
A May report by Manitoba Agriculture suggests pork operators should seek alternative markets — like the Philippines, Vietnam and Mexico — for future exporting.
StatCan projected canola would cover 3.1 million acres in Manitoba this year, a 6.4 per cent decline.
Chuck Fossay seeded 1,100 acres near Starbuck, as in past years. The price of canola has rebounded since a drop earlier in 2025 amid tariff uncertainty.
Buyers have recently been purchasing bushels for $16 — a 'good price,' Fossay said.
'We're seeing very strong demand,' he added, noting canola seeds are unaffected by the Chinese tariffs.
The crop is covered under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade and isn't subject to U.S. tariffs. However, Canada lacks canola crushing capacity; the job is often outsourced to China and the U.S., noted Michael Mikulak, Food & Beverage Manitoba's executive director.
'There's concern about what that means to the cost and to the producers,' Mikulak said. 'Even small shifts in price can mean you're essentially running at a loss.'
Affected manufacturers are largely in a 'wait-and-see' period, he added.
Some canola farmers are feeling U.S. tariff impacts from increased farm machinery costs, said Fossay, who is a Manitoba Canola Growers director.
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(Canada and the U.S. have implemented import taxes on the other's steel and aluminum. On the U.S. side, the levy is 50 per cent; Canada's is 25 per cent.)
'We just continue to see higher prices on a lot of items,' Fossay said. 'It's really hard to know whether it's the marketplace that's causing that or if it's tariffs or a combination of both.'
Meantime, Colin Hornby is watching for new agreements between Canada and its trade partners.
'We want Manitoba farmers to have the opportunity to sell their products into markets around the world,' said Hornby, general manager of the Keystone Agricultural Producers. 'We're strong believers in free and open and fair trade.'
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Gabrielle PichéReporter
Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle.
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