The Canadian Pork Council is looking at implementing a hog hedging program.

On Friday, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada announced they would be giving up to $160,530 to the pork council to conduct a study on the feasibility of hog hedging.

The study would look at the risks and impacts of hog market price fluctuations on producers, and explore the potential of developing a hog hedging program that would reduce the risk.

"What we're doing is reviewing risk management on the farm and a way to mitigate that," says Canadian Pork Council chair, Rick Bergmann. "Having this program in place would allow for producers to reduce their risk by selecting a price that they're comfortable with in marketing their product, and also the ability to keep cash flow on the farm in times where it's really needed."

Bergmann says they are very excited to be at this point in the process.

"We've had interesting conversations with a major banking firm here in Canada, where they're also very intrigued about this potential," says Bergmann. "It's encouraging that what we're pursuing is being seen by others as a very positive thing for our industry, which will make pork farms stronger in the future."

Bergmann says they have another meeting in Ottawa next week in regards to the hedging program.