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Showing posts with the label Factory Farms

Buying carbon indulgences (Letter)

Letter - Manitoba Co-Operator  Letters to the Editor Manitoba Cooperator Dear Mr. Gilmour: Re: The carbon credit reality Feb.25 Almost four years ago I saw a full colour, half page ad placed by the Manitoba Pork Council with the Winnipeg Free Press. It claimed that Big Pig, as I know the MPC, had the strictest environmental protection of any jurisdiction in North America. So I wrote the former CEO to ask who had the second strictest. Obligingly, he wrote back to say that he didn't know. Yes, he didn't know. Meaning that the published claim was specious. (I exposed that lie before a legislative committee with the CEO in the room and the ad never again appeared in the Free Press.)  So, excuse me if David McInnes' gushing about Canada's record in food sustainability appears to be similarly suspect. I duly note that he is under contract to 22 various and sundry special interest groups seeking some sort of Good Agribusiness Seal of Approval for food sustainability. You repor

APPEARING TODAY IN A JOINT ISSUE OF THE ROBLIN REVIEW AND RUSSELL BANNER.

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'Silent superbug killers in a river near you,' including Spain, the US, Thailand and Manitoba, Canada.

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World Animal Protection    Public waterways next to industrial farms in Manitoba contain antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) that are dangerous to public health says a report from the global charity World Animal Protection.  The report is the first multi-country investigation of its kind.  Farmer Jeff Linton of Linton Pasture Pork, a high welfare farm in Ontario inspects one of his piglets. He is against all forms of industrial farming practices, including overcrowding animals which can cause stress and sickness leading to routine antibiotic use for disease prevention. World Animal Protection applauds farmers like Jeff who put the welfare of the animals first. Credit: Nina Devries/World Animal Protection Date: August 2019. (CNW Group/World Animal Protection) ARGs should be of concern because they are the building blocks for "superbugs" (bacteria that have developed resistance to one or more antibiotics).  This means those antibiotics will be less or ineffective in treating inf

Eating the Earth

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The Bureau of Investigative Journalism Cattle in the Amazon.  How industrial food is devastating the planet and driving climate change.

The Government of Manitoba robs its rural citizens of their local autonomy to serve its political friends and big business. (Opinion)

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        by Larry Powell  The Premier of Manitoba, Brian Pallister. A Gov't. photo. The lengths to which the Pallister government is going to enable the unfettered exploitation of Manitoba's resources and massive expansion of its hog industry, should now be clear for all to see. For the past few years, it’s been rolling out, at significant taxpayer expense, the truly draconian measures it’s now taking, to make this happen.  While the writing has been on the wall, only now are the worst fears being realized. They expose this government’ naked contempt for the democratic rights of rural Manitobans who have the audacity to point out that these goals are misguided - that the emperor has no clothes. Late last year, the Municipality of Rosser, near Winnipeg, rejected a bid for a gravel mine (euphemistically called a limestone aggregate quarry). The politically well-connected owner of the construction company proposing the mine (who made a substantial contribution to the Conservative P

Compassion needed for farm animals. (Letter)

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The following letter appeared in the Saturday, Oct. 10th edition of the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo added by PinP.) Sows like this spend much of their lives in tiny steel cages. Re: Changes needed to protect farms, animals (Opinion, Oct. 5)  As a former executive director at the Winnipeg Humane Society, I feel compelled to respond to Bill Campbell’s op-ed on the need to protect farms and animals. After starting at the Humane Society in 1994, I quickly came to learn that some of the most egregious suffering imposed on animals by humans occurs in the industrial barns of today’s animal agriculture. I am not speaking of the few remaining family farms, but rather the large industrial-style buildings that house thousands of animals in small confined spaces with no access to the outdoors. These operations treat the animals more like cars on an assembly line, as they do not allow the animals to fulfill natural instincts and limit their movement severely. In short, t

World's biggest meat firm, JBS, caught red-handed. (Video)

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The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

WARNING: LANGUAGE IN THIS VIDEO MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME. Bill Mahr reminds us how our contempt for nature and the way we produce food is biting us back.

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The smell, the noise, the dust: my neighbour, the factory farm

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The Guardian Industrial farms are spreading across Europe. Greenpeace campaigners went to talk to the people who live close by.Warning: readers may find some of the images upsetting. Story here. Dead hogs in a dumpster at a Manitoba factory barn, awaiting removal to an unknown location. A PinP photo. Please also read - "In Hogs We Trust."   A critique of Manitoba’s runaway hog industry. Part 1 - Antibiotic Overuse. Part 11 - The price we pay for corporate pig$. Part 111 - From Malaysia to Manitoba - the global magnitude of livestock diseases. Part 1V - The health and environmental costs of an expanded hog industry. Part V - What’s behind Manitoba’s drive to expand?  

African swine fever (ASF) would be a disaster

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There is a ‘clear risk’ the swiftly spreading disease could come here, says leading swine health vet By Alexis Kienlen FOLLOW Reporter Alberta farmer -  February 11, 2019 These red spots are typical of African swine fever.   A Wikimedia photo. There is a real risk that the African swine fever virus could enter Canada — and if it did, it would be catastrophic, says one of the country’s leading swine health experts.

Emissions impossible

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Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy A confined animal feeding operation in the U.S. Photo by the E.P.A. How big meat and dairy are heating up the planet. Story here. RELATED: "In Hogs We Trust -  Part 1V - The health and environmental costs of an expanded hog industry in Manitoba, Canada."

Industrial farms in Britain receive millions in subsidies

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The Guardian The Guardian and Bureau of Investigative Journalism establish that intensive farms in the UK received nearly £70m in two years. Details here. Dead pigs in a dumpster outside a Manitoba factory farm await  removal to an unknown destination.  A PinP photo. Please read related:  "In Hogs We Trust - Part 11  -   The price Manitobans pay for corporate pig$."  

Why I’m looking forward to my first vegan Christmas

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The Guardian Damian Carrington   I won’t be eating turkey this year because of meat’s environmental impact. More here. A turkey farm in Missouri. Photo by  Billy Hathorn .

Chickens freezing to death and boiled alive: failings in US slaughterhouses exposed

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The Guardian. Chickens slowly freezing to death, being boiled alive, drowned or suffocating under piles of other birds are among hundreds of shocking welfare incidents recorded at US slaughterhouses, according to previously unpublished reports. Story here. An American broiler (meat) chicken house. USDA photo by Joe Valbuena.

European parliament approves curbs on use of antibiotics on farm animals

TheGuardian Move is aimed at halting the spread of ‘superbugs’ resistant to medical treatment. Details here. RELATED: Starting this December, Canadian farmers will need a prescription to obtain veterinary antibiotics for their livestock. According to a retired University of Guelph professor, John Prescott, the federal regulatory changes mean the agriculture industry will be required to play its part in reducing the use of antibiotics here and around the world. More here.

The RM of Yellowhead will ask an independent investigator to solve a dispute over an allegedly illegal hog barn operation in southwestern Manitoba.

The citizens' group HogWatch Manitoba made an official presentation to the RM council two week ago, It claimed the barn owner, Wim Verbruggen had built a bigger barn housing more animals than the rules allowed. A Hogwatch official, Ruth Pryzner, suggested it be shut down because it had deprived any concerned resident the right to be heard. She also feared he may have to spread the waste on fields in winter, which is illegal. That's because he apparently has not expanded his storage capacity to take care of the waste from the barn. But, following a council meeting today, Mayor Don Yanick told PinP, Verbruggen still maintains he is not keeping more animals than he should (He claims it is 297, not the 300 or more he is alleged to be). The Mayor says the RM will ask some independent person to look into the situation to confirm who is right before deciding on any further action. Despite the controversy, the Mayor says he would not be opposed to one or two more barns in the re

How animal waste is helping turn China's lakes green

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The Guardian                                    Lest we North Americans feel smug, this image shows                                                           one of countless "eutrophied" sloughs in Manitoba,                                                                                              on the Canadian prairies .                                                                                                                            A PinP   photo.      Animal husbandry is contaminating China's water and has been linked to bright-green lakes, a phenomenon know as eutrophication.  More here.   Related: In Hogs We Trust -  Part 1V - The health and environmental price we Manitobans will pay for an expanded hog industry.

Officials Worry Yet Another Lethal Pig Disease May be Coming to Canada

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by Larry Powell The Manager of the "Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network"  warns, now that African Swine Fever (ASF) has been confirmed in China, the risk of it spreading to North America, has increased.  Dr. Jette Christensen, veterinary epidemeologist. Dr. Jette Christensen (above) describes ASF as "a serious and trade-limiting viral infection." Speaking on the industry-sponsored radio program, "Farmscape," she assured listeners, if  the Canadian industry follows import regulations, "they should be safe." But she also warns that the virus can survive for months outside the host in pork products. The swelling around the kidneys and the muscle hemorrhages shown here are  typical of pigs with  African swine fever.  Karen Apicelli USDA Dr. Christensen warns Canadian producers, that workers they hire, could bring the disease home with them after vacationing in China or Eastern Europe. And they should even be car

Rural Americans’ struggles against factory farm pollution find traction in court. Will it happen in Canada, too?

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THE CONVERSATION A Manitoba animal factory. Photo credit - Mercy for Animals, Canada. As U.S. livestock farming becomes more industrial, it is changing rural life.  More here. RELATED: "In Hogs We Trust."   A critique of Manitoba’s runaway hog industry. Part 1 - Antibiotic Overuse. Part 11 - The price we pay for corporate pig$.   Part 111 - The magnitude of animal diseases, worldwide. Part 1V - The health and environmental costs of an expanded hog industry. Part V - Who’s behind Manitoba’s drive to expand? Find the answers here!

Deadly African swine fever arrives in China, the world’s largest producer of pigs

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International Livestock Research Institute A piglet, one of countless who died of Porcine Epidemic  Diarrhea in Manitoba over the past 18 months. (A Manitoba Pork photo.)  Diseases deadly to hogs, some of which can also spread to humans, are legion. Long feared, it's now finally happened. African Swine Fever (ASF), an infectious and highly-lethal viral disease of pigs has, for the first time, reared its head in China.  Story here. RELATED; "In Hogs We Trust - Part 111"