source: Farm and Food Report
With Florian Possberg, what you see is what you get.
The Chief Executive Officer of Humboldt’s Big Sky Farms even sounds like the voice of common sense.
He is a man on a mission, whose journey is dotted by opportunities to list more communities on his great big map of rural prosperity, his sights set on grabbing a piece of the global hog market for Saskatchewan.
“To build the type of sustainable hog sector we envision here in the province, we need to realize that we are competing with the world: the Japanese, the Brazilians, the Americans and the Danes,” Possberg says. “As a hog producer, I say to myself: we must tailor our industry to go head on with them. You can be the best pork producer in the world, but if you don’t have the processing facilities and all those resources you need to get there, you won’t succeed.”
Possberg is taking an active role in enhancing pork sales around the world as a Board member of Canada Pork International. He is particularly passionate about the need to manage the Canadian brand.
“What we sell in Japan is no longer generic pork. It is a quality product that evokes in consumers there as distinctive a standard of quality and safety as, let’s say, Coca-Cola evokes in soft drinks. Pork consumers are increasingly that discriminating.”
Possberg has been producing hogs since he graduated from university in 1975. Big Sky Farms Inc. grew out of the Possberg farming operation, then known as Possberg Pork Farms Limited. Big Sky now takes to the market 740,000 hogs a year, raised at 31 different sites in the province, mostly in the Northeast. Big Sky also contracts finishing activities to 12 sites in Saskatchewan and three in Iowa.
Reached upon his return from a business mission to Mexico, he reiterated his belief in the value his industry represents for rural Saskatchewan.
“I am convinced that many of our citizens would prefer to live in rural Saskatchewan if the economic and employment opportunities were there. We know there are great people out there and that our citizens have incredible work ethics. We are naturally drawn to areas that are sparsely populated and where the population experiences some worries about the long-term sustainability of their community. We approach them in good faith and we are rewarded for it.”
Today, the operation is managed by four Saskatchewan businessmen, who together have more than 60 years experience in the hog industry. Big Sky owns and operates production units in the Humboldt, Goodeve, Kelvington, Lintlaw, Preeceville, Sturgis, Ogema, Rama and Porcupine Plain areas.
The large-scale production approach of the company has not always raised unanimous support, admits Possberg himself.
“There is an audience out there that doesn’t particularly care for what we are trying to accomplish, because it translates in their minds into fewer and bigger farms. But we can’t turn the clock back 20 or 30 years. We must change with the times or the times will leave us behind.”
Between 1993 and 1999, world consumption of pork rose by 15 million tonnes. Export markets account for over 58 per cent of the Canadian hog production, which totaled approximately 30 million hogs in 2003.
The growing popularity of pork is creating a huge market demand, and hog producers like Big Sky Farms are expanding to meet this demand. Within the last five years, Big Sky Farms has become one of the largest producers in Western Canada.
In essence, what Possberg advocates is a transformation of agricultural economic means in what he calls a socially responsible manner that gives the host communities the choice to come on board with him and his team for a lasting, mutually beneficial relationship.
“If you run a good business and you have the support of all the partners, you will inevitably become more competitive with other producers around the world. That is what we are after.”
For more information, contact:
Florian Possberg
Big Sky Farms Inc.
(306) 682-5041
http://www.bigsky.sk.ca
With Florian Possberg, what you see is what you get.
The Chief Executive Officer of Humboldt’s Big Sky Farms even sounds like the voice of common sense.
He is a man on a mission, whose journey is dotted by opportunities to list more communities on his great big map of rural prosperity, his sights set on grabbing a piece of the global hog market for Saskatchewan.
“To build the type of sustainable hog sector we envision here in the province, we need to realize that we are competing with the world: the Japanese, the Brazilians, the Americans and the Danes,” Possberg says. “As a hog producer, I say to myself: we must tailor our industry to go head on with them. You can be the best pork producer in the world, but if you don’t have the processing facilities and all those resources you need to get there, you won’t succeed.”
Possberg is taking an active role in enhancing pork sales around the world as a Board member of Canada Pork International. He is particularly passionate about the need to manage the Canadian brand.
“What we sell in Japan is no longer generic pork. It is a quality product that evokes in consumers there as distinctive a standard of quality and safety as, let’s say, Coca-Cola evokes in soft drinks. Pork consumers are increasingly that discriminating.”
Possberg has been producing hogs since he graduated from university in 1975. Big Sky Farms Inc. grew out of the Possberg farming operation, then known as Possberg Pork Farms Limited. Big Sky now takes to the market 740,000 hogs a year, raised at 31 different sites in the province, mostly in the Northeast. Big Sky also contracts finishing activities to 12 sites in Saskatchewan and three in Iowa.
Reached upon his return from a business mission to Mexico, he reiterated his belief in the value his industry represents for rural Saskatchewan.
“I am convinced that many of our citizens would prefer to live in rural Saskatchewan if the economic and employment opportunities were there. We know there are great people out there and that our citizens have incredible work ethics. We are naturally drawn to areas that are sparsely populated and where the population experiences some worries about the long-term sustainability of their community. We approach them in good faith and we are rewarded for it.”
Today, the operation is managed by four Saskatchewan businessmen, who together have more than 60 years experience in the hog industry. Big Sky owns and operates production units in the Humboldt, Goodeve, Kelvington, Lintlaw, Preeceville, Sturgis, Ogema, Rama and Porcupine Plain areas.
The large-scale production approach of the company has not always raised unanimous support, admits Possberg himself.
“There is an audience out there that doesn’t particularly care for what we are trying to accomplish, because it translates in their minds into fewer and bigger farms. But we can’t turn the clock back 20 or 30 years. We must change with the times or the times will leave us behind.”
Between 1993 and 1999, world consumption of pork rose by 15 million tonnes. Export markets account for over 58 per cent of the Canadian hog production, which totaled approximately 30 million hogs in 2003.
The growing popularity of pork is creating a huge market demand, and hog producers like Big Sky Farms are expanding to meet this demand. Within the last five years, Big Sky Farms has become one of the largest producers in Western Canada.
In essence, what Possberg advocates is a transformation of agricultural economic means in what he calls a socially responsible manner that gives the host communities the choice to come on board with him and his team for a lasting, mutually beneficial relationship.
“If you run a good business and you have the support of all the partners, you will inevitably become more competitive with other producers around the world. That is what we are after.”
For more information, contact:
Florian Possberg
Big Sky Farms Inc.
(306) 682-5041
http://www.bigsky.sk.ca
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