Where is Charlotte's web when you need it?

Canadian hog farmers are being offered a serious cash incentive by the Canadian government to kill 150,000 by the time fall rolls around. The government hopes that by reducing the pork supply, the price of the meat will increase and help the hog farmers who are struggling. The incentive is somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million by the way. That's not exactly pocket change we're talking about.

Canadian Pork Council President Clare Schlegal says farmers are currently dealing with three main issues: the rise of the Canadian dollar that is causing the price of pork in the U.S. to decrease dramatically, the increase in the cost of feed thanks to the production of ethanol and the cure of a disease known as circle virus, allowing pigs to grow and make it to the market, causing an overabundance of the animals.

"It's really a perfect storm," says Schlegel, a hog farmer himself. "I'm going to try to weather the storm," he says. "We've been successful over 30 years ... but we're trying to reduce costs, we're trying to buckle down and become more productive. We believe long-term that the hog business will be profitable."

"The market is dynamic," Schlegel says. "People generally don't eat a lot more pork just because it's a little cheaper. That's what's called an inelastic market. We're 10 percent more than last year. ... The world demand for pork is growing at about 1 percent to 2 percent a year. So this is way beyond what simply is acceptable."

The government is hoping that by eliminating two per cent of the North American breeding swine, they will bridge the gap between supply and demand. About one-quarter of the meat resulting from the slaughter will be given to Canadian food banks, with the rest heading to the pet food industry.

» NPR