Hog plant must find buyer, province says

The province named A.C. Poirier and Associates Monday as receiver for the regional hog plant in Charlottetown, but said it would continue operating the plant only temporarily.

"The premier's made it fairly clear, it's not our intention to operate a hog plant," said Peter Wilson of the P.E.I. Lending Agency.

"Our intention is to either find a purchaser for the plant, or if that's not available, to wind up operations."

The province had set Monday as the deadline for the repayment of a $1.5 million loan. The owners of the Natural Organic Food Group plant said Friday they did not have the cash and walked away from the operation.

Wilson said it is expected the plant will operate for no more than three to six months, in order to give producers the opportunity to find another place to ship their pigs. Most hogs in the Maritimes are processed at the plant, along with several hundred a week from Quebec.

Consider the bigger picture, says NDP

The interim leader of the Island New Democrats is calling on the province to make every effort to ensure the plant continues to operate. James Rodd told CBC News thatthe province has a responsibility to help support the agriculture industry.

"I'm hoping that the premier will look at the bigger picture regarding the Natural Organic Food Group plant," said Rodd.

"The bigger picture, of course, is the hog farmers and the infrastructure and the services that are provided to them and that they provide to the rural economy."

The owners ofthe plant were trying to develop new niche markets. Rodd said it provided hope for Island hog producers at a difficult time, and now those producers are left with nothing.

P.E.I. Hog Board chair Anthony Nabuurs said Monday that, plant or no plant, the industry is in crisis.

"Even if we never had a plant here for the last six or eight months or a year, we still would have been getting 90 dollars for a pig that it costs 180 to produce," said Nabuurs.

"We really have to spend the next while thinking about making sure that we spend every dollar we have wisely, so that we still have some sort of an industry here in a year or two, when I believe this will be better. And it's a matter of getting there."

When NOFG took over the plant from Maple Leaf Foods in 2006 there were other parties looking at the plant, said Wilson. The receiver will likely be in contact with them to see if they're still interested.