The Food Issue
2015
grainswest.com
27
his duties include interfacing with
government. As a young man in 1968,
he spent a year in England working with
the Pig Improvement Company, a new
pig-breeding concept. It so impressed
him, he convinced his family to launch
Pig Improvement Canada, 50 per cent
owned by the U.K. group at that time. It
would later become Sunterra.
Pig Improvement Canada launched
in 1970 with Dave as manager, Stan
providing directorial vision and Flo
bringing the financial expertise. With
stock from the U.K. operation, Pig
Improvement Canada began breeding
operations in Acme, which in turn
provided stock for the launch of Mexico
and U.S. operations.
The Prices and their partners
were instrumental in turning the Pig
Improvement Company network into
what is now by far the largest pig-
breeding network in the world. By the
late ’90s, it was the largest supplier of
breeding stock in Canada, but growth
levelled off. Rather than compete with
other Pig Improvement Companies
in the international marketplace, all
decided it was best for the business and
for the family to sell the breeding stock
marketing business.
Retaining the Alberta farms and
Canadian marketing rights, the Prices
once again employed visionary flair,
anticipating production and retail agri-
food trends.
“What we believed we saw coming
was that packers were going to get more
involved in pig production and pork
utilization,” said Ray. As early as the mid-
’80s they began to explore meatpacking
and the retail sector. “We were experts
in pig production but we needed to be
experts in pork production,” said Ray.
They worked with packers to understand
their needs, touring farms and packing
houses in Europe.
The knowledge, expertise and
high-quality pork developed by the
Pig Improvement Company was the
impetus for this ambition. Its genetic
improvements produced leaner, faster-
growing pigs exhibiting better feed
conversion and bigger litters. “We
felt we had really high-quality pork,
and it was being lost in the system,”
explained Ray. “We also knew we had to
understand more about pork qualities.”
Purchasing a small Trochu meat
plant that handled pigs and cattle, the
Prices began testing the pig-to-pork
transformation and traceability. With
the meat supply and processing system
in place, the market beckoned, said
Ray. “We said, ‘Well, why don’t we just
get into a retail store and find out what
consumers think of us?’”
A commodity-based family farm
launching a consumer-direct retail
operation was unheard of in the late
’90s. It was a step into the complete
unknown, said Ray with a chuckle.
“Crazy farmers thinking we could go
downstream and sell products into a
store situation. But we really believed
that high-quality pork and beef at a
competitive price would sell.” This
was prior to the eat-local trend, so
Brothers Dave (left) and Ray Price (right) are past-president and president, respectively, of Sunterra group.
