The Manitoba Pork Marketing Co-op and Saskatchewan’s SPI Marketing Group have set up a new joint company to handle marketing, procurement, settlement, insurance and risk management.
The new company, h@ms (short for “hog administrative marketing services”), is to be based in Winnipeg with a satellite office in Saskatoon, the two producer-owned agencies said in a joint release Wednesday.
The two agencies between them represent over 500 hog farmers who market about two million hogs per year. Both said they will continue to operate separately and provide direction to h@ms through a joint board of directors with representatives from both provinces.
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H@ms is expected to be fully operational by Jan. 1, 2010, but is already offering some services which won’t necessarily be limited to Saskatchewan and Manitoba hog producers, the two agencies said.
“We see no reason to limit the service package to Manitoba and Saskatchewan producers and hope producers and industry participants in other provinces will see the benefits and value of working with h@ms to provide hog marketing services,” John Preun, president of MPMC, said in Wednesday’s release.
“We also think there is potential in the future for processors to find value in the services provided by h@ms,” SPI board chairman Don Kolla said.
“The economic performance of the industry has pushed producers to be creative in minimizing costs over the last few years, and we felt our contribution to this would be the consolidation of services,” SPI general manager Don Hrapchak said of the two parent agencies’ efforts.
“This move will enable both organizations to continue to provide a high level of service at a reduced cost.”
The two partners’ joint effort “ensures that producers/members will be well represented for many years to come,” MPMC CEO Perry Mohr said in the release.
