Beef industry Dairy industry Horse industry Poultry industry Sheep industry		Pigs are not native to North America. They were one of the many types of livestock brought by European settlers in the 17th century. With the commercialization of the swine industry, and the increasing popularity of pork, the swine industry now markets 13 million pigs annually in Canada. The prairie provinces produce approximately 50% of Canada's production; Saskatchewan, however, supplies only 900 000 pigs annually at the present time. Saskatchewan is one of the lowest cost production areas in North America. Because of the close proximity to an abundance of high quality feed grains, and a large amount of affordable land, the swine industry is expected to expand enormously in Saskatchewan. Currently, grain production in Saskatchewan has the potential to feed over 10 million pigs. Stocking density for swine is also quite low in Saskatchewan compared to other pork producing regions of the world. There are only 3 pigs per square kilometre in Saskatchewan compared to 510 pigs per square kilometre in the Netherlands. Although some pork producing regions with high stocking rates are suffering from problems including soil and ground water contamination, Saskatchewan can still support many more animals without these risks. Federal and Provincial governments do exercise some control over the swine industry. Under the authority of the Agriculture Operations Act, regulations have been implemented to ensure animals wastes are properly stored and used without the risk of environmental contamination. Local governments are also responsible for zoning, and can regulate the expansion or establishment of swine operations. The pork industry has the ability to generate many jobs in Saskatchewan. Skilled labour is in high demand in the fields of nutrition, genetics and breeding, engineering and management. Although pork operations are profitable if managed carefully, they also require a large capital investment. As a result, pork production is less likely to exist as a family farm and large company production units will be favored.