Bergman Steps Down as CPC Chair

By Harry Siemens

Rick Bergman of Steinbach, MB recently stepped down as chair of the Canadian Pork Council (CPC) after eight years.

At a CPC board meeting in Banff, AB members of the board elected René Roy, a pork producer from Quebec as the new chair and Scott Peters of Manitoba as the new first vice-chair. At the same time, Bergmann retired from the board after eight years as chair and a total of 15 years of service to the national organization.

“I would like to thank my friend Rick for representing our 7,000 Canadian pork producers for the past eight years as chair,” said Roy. “Being chair of this organization is important and rewarding work, and Rick has tirelessly taken time away from his farm, business, and family to advance national files on behalf of all producers.”

Bergman navigated the industry through several challenging issues since joining the board in 2008, such as the global pandemic, WTO challenges, CPTPP and NAFTA trade negotiations.

“Well, it feels good. I don’’ know if it feels any different. I did the tour of duty, and now we move on to other things,” said Bergman from his home in Steinbach.

He said looking back at the many changes over the past eight years he sees more focus on public trust and the environment. More so in the last two years and this focus will continue to grow which is alright.

“We have a good story to tell about all the good things happening on farms,” said Berman.

He noted that this focus isn’t a threat but an opportunity to further tell that story and help educate people who never get off the concrete. The internet is not a place to learn about everything; agriculture is a beautiful, unique business.

“Our focus is to have a sustainable sector that includes different models of farms,” he said.

Bergman said the family farm had a tough go over the last years, which continues to be the same challenge for many family farms and was one of the significant challenges during the previous 20 years and probably the upcoming 20 years.

In Canada, the market connects the producer and the grocery shelf to a certain degree he said. But on the international scene in the last year there were more difficult challenges with China and Japan. Bergman said that hurts the processing world, which naturally filters down to the producers.

“We rely on the world market exporting 70 per cent of what we produce,” he said.

With a growing population of eight billion people, many struggle to have three meals a day.

“Agriculture in Canada including pork producers have a critical role for food security, not only for our country, but because we are so exportdriven, we’ve got an opportunity to continue to feed the world, and I hope that that opportunity continues,” said the retiring CPC chair.

He said there are three highlights of his involvement in the Canadian pork industry. First and foremost the fantastic support from his family.

“It didn’t matter if I came home at 2:00 in the afternoon or 2:00 in the morning; my good wife was there to meet me at the door. Without that family support, you can’t do very much,” said Bergman. “Also, the board’s support with a fantastic group of people from across the country working as a team was able to accomplish some good things and make the files move forward. And it’s a significant highlight for me when we can collaborate with government officials and where there’s an interest, whether it be senators, Ag ministers, department heads, etc. We all must ensure that, number one; agriculture in Canada stays strong, and if it doesn’t, if it’s not strong, let’s get it strong.”