Maple Leaf Foods’ hog production company Elite Swine has been renamed Maple Leaf Agri-Farms, the company announced Monday.
The move is the latest step in the reorganization the company announced in October last year, in which it planned to refocus on value-added meat and meals.
As part of that move, Maple Leaf said at the time that it would cut back the number of hogs it produces or manages, while transitioning to 100 per cent ownership of fewer barns. It said it would reduce the number of hogs it processes while “optimizing the value” of each hog.
Read Also
U.S. livestock: Cattle prices down, hogs rise again
Live and cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange retreated for a second session, while lean hogs extended their rally….
Under the reorganization, the company closed meat slaughter and processing facilities in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia, including primary processing plants in Saskatoon and Winnipeg, and cancelled plans to build a new Saskatoon pork plant.
Elite Swine stemmed from the Elite Swine Management Program, launched by Manitoba-based Landmark Feeds in 1982, from which it evolved into what it called Canada’s largest swine management company.
Elite billed its program as a made-in-Canada approach to modern pork production, combining private ownership with the production efficiencies and marketing opportunities of large-scale integrated hog production.
Maple Leaf took over Landmark Feeds in 1999. It then announced a deal in May this year to sell that company and the rest of its animal nutrition business to Dutch firm Nutreco.
Maple Leaf Agri-Farms will now be run as an “independent operating company” of Maple Leaf Foods, the company said in a release Monday.
