There's finally some optimism in the hog markets.

Tyler Fulton, with Hams Marketing Services, talked about forward contracts.

"We've seen a dramatic change over the last 6 weeks, where we've got a lot greater potential actually in the forward prices to realize a profit for Western Canadian hog producers than we did a month or two ago."

Fulton says cash prices have also been trending upwards.

"Really, what we've seen is a 20 per cent rally in U.S. hog prices over the course of the last five or six weeks. That's to some degree had influence on cash markets as well."

He notes pork packing plants in Western Canada are increasing their throughput despite some challenges related to COVID-19.