In 2001, Southwestern Ontario created a producer owned hog processing operation. The idea began with the trade disruption and countervailing duty on Canadian hogs in the 1980s. In 1995 the co-op purchased a former vegetable processing plant with the intent of converting it into a processing plant. The hog price crash in 1998 pushed for the full development of the business plan. They purchased Conestoga Meat Packers Ltd. in the fall of 2001 and 172 farmers chose to become members of the new plant with total annual shipments of 650,000 hogs. Some of the challenges this plant faced were expansion of hog capacity, the premium/discount program for maintaining quality, and the communication program for rapid, consistent, and actionable flow of information and feedback to members. To date, the PPP/Conestoga operation is still working out the kinks in getting it to full production and optimal efficiency. A new payment structure has been implemented. In the future, they are planning to continue to improve its long-term prospects.