The Meat of the Problem

By Ezra Klein - Washington Post - Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Photo by l.p.

It's not simply that meat is a contributor to global warming; it's that it is a huge contributor. Larger, by a significant margin, than the global transportation sector.

Strategic Blueprint Foresees Slimmed-Down Hog Industry

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION - By: Laura Rance - 11/07/2009

Pork council angles for government help to ease transition... Click headline for more.



Kichiro Sato

STILL More Reaction to "To Graze or not to Graze!"

"I've seen riparian areas managed well where cattle are allowed in for brief periods, usually during the late fall and winter months. They can graze the tall grasses and do a bit of breaking up of soil (but not too much) that can help seeds germinate for greater biodiversity. But the rest of the year they were excluded from the riparian area - it is too sensitive, and cattle can easily overwhelm the ecosystem due to their size and numbers and tendency to congregate where access to water is easiest.
"As a general policy, exclusion may well be the best course, as it can be quite difficult to assess all the factors that need to be considered to do a proper job of managing short-term seasonal grazing in riparian areas. In other words, err on the side of caution."

Cathy Holtslander - Beyond Factory Farming.
"BFF" is a national organization promoting socially responsible livestock production in Canada.
Cathy has been involved in environmental advocacy with a focus on agriculture and food since the mid '90s.
www.beyondfactoryfarming.org
www.citizensguide.ca

More Reaction to; "To Graze or not to Graze...."

"I have no problem with cattle grazing in riparian areas. However, I do have a problem with cattle pooping in riparian areas. The “expert” opinions which are now giving tacit approval to contaminating water with cow pies are defying the fundamental science of eutrophication. This is mildly Orwellian. One wonders how the vegetation in riparian zones actually survived and flourished before the introduction of cattle to Canada."

C. Hugh Arklie (Who is Hugh Arklie?)

"I am a chartered accountant now working in the philanthropic sector. I am in my final year of an Environmental Studies degree program at the U of Winnipeg. For many years I have observed and participated in local environmental issues. One of my biggest frustrations is how the public service serves industry more and more, and the public less and less.
"Otherwise I am just a private citizen acting on my own when I feel compelled to point out that the Emperor is sometimes naked. This is the case with respect to grazing in riparian areas. And Meditation Lake. And LP. And Big Pig. And on and on."
Hugh
=====
Larry,
In most streams and rivers on the Prairies, not only has the vegetation been removed to the water's edge but then cattle are grazed in the area and erode the system even more. The Little Saskatchewan, the most polluted river I have worked on has 10,000 cattle on it and most of them are in it. Just take a trip in summer along your favourite stream and you will find the same thing. The levels of faecal and total coliform bacteria in our Manitoba surface waters and beaches are indicative of this pollution.
The science clearly indicates that keeping livestock out of the zone close the water's edge has a huge impact on both nutrient and pathogen contamination in our lakes, rivers and streams. My data indicates that this is a widespread problem in southern Manitoba.
Look into what New York city has done for farmers to prevent the huge expenditures needed to filter Cryptosporidium out of drinking water.
Best regards
Bill
(William Paton, Prof. of Biology, Brandon University)
Click on headline for original story.

To Graze or not to Graze. Do Cattle Belong in Riparian Areas? In Some Cases, Yes, say Experts.

by Larry Powell

While mixed messages seem to be emerging about the wisdom of grazing cattle near rivers, streams and lakes, experts say, not so.

Courtesy of Water's Edge

Courtesy of the Upper Assiniboine

River Conservation District

Above - The pretty and the ugly sides of riparian management.

For years, the Government of Manitoba and Conservation Districts have promoted the idea of keeping livestock away from these so-called "riparian areas." Financial incentives, grants and even tax breaks have been offered to producers who keep their cattle away from shorelines.

The Lake of the Prairies Conservation District, (LPCD) for example, is now offering ranchers along waterways such as the Shell and Assiniboine Rivers, up to $5,000 each if they take certain steps. They'll be eligible for up to $3,000 if they install "offsite" (away from shorelines) watering systems and additional incentives for building fences to keep their livestock back, or repair areas already destabilized by cattle, such as cattle crossings and river banks.
The main purpose is to benefit water quality but it's hoped it will also encourage the preservation of natural vegetation for wildlife.
A recent series of workshops in the Roblin area may have seemed, on the surface, to be delivering quite a different message about riparian usage; that it is acceptable to graze and water cattle in natural waterways, as long as it is done properly.
It's called "riparian management."
A riparian specialist with the Alberta-based group, "Cows and Fish," Michael Gerrand, took at least a dozen people on a tour of such a place, on the Beasley cattle ranch north of Roblin near Boggy Creek on Tuesday. Those taking part did an inspection of an area along a lake where cattle had previously grazed and watered.
Gerrand told the group, "These areas are meant to be grazed."
After the inspection, he had the group do a step-by-step assessment of the impact of the practice on plants, shrubs, trees and shoreline there.
The conclusion - the area had been only lightly impacted.
And he advised the owners to graze cattle in that spot again to, among other things, ensure that invasive plant species are contained.
Another workshop in the area heard similar testimony later from a Manitoba group called "Managing the Water's Edge." It has published a brochure in which five Manitoba ranchers (including one along the Shell River) tell of favourable experiences in which they use natural shorelines to feed and water their herds.
They believe riparian areas not only offer them economic value, but can be managed without compromising their ecological integrity.
Eric Busch of the Lake of the Prairies Conservation District doesn't believe there is really any contradictory advice here at all.
Mr. Busch told Paths Less Travelled, "While it may seem that there are mixed messages coming out, I don’t think it takes a lot of investigation to realize that there aren’t. The main message that has never changed is that riparian areas are important, and that a degraded riparian area will have a negative effect on your watercourse. The rest of the discussion really comes down to how you want to ensure the health of your riparian area. Fence posts and barb wire are not environmental saving objects on their own, they never were. They are and will continue to be a tool that producers have the option of using for ensuring the condition of their riparian areas. The Cows and fish Workshop is saying that although fencing is a tool, it is not the best one. They are saying (and I tend to support this) that selective and carefully managed grazing is the best tool. You may then ask why we have a fencing program and not a selective grazing program. The answer is, you can’t purchase selective grazing techniques, they are learned and then applied at the producers discretion. Hence, grant programs for the tool that can be purchased, and education events such as the one you were at yesterday for the tools that cannot be purchased, only learned. We will continue to offer our fencing program until it is no longer a preferred tool for managing riparian areas while pursuing more educational events on grazing management. I suspect that where most of our producers are approaching retirement age grazing system changeover will not be prevalent and fencing will be more popular. As newer producers join the game we will likely see fencing decline."
Mr. Gerrand of "Cows and Fish" also discounts any suggestion that advice coming out on this issue has been contradictory.
"Regarding fencing there are no mixed messages. I think the CD's and anyone associated with govt grants would agree that riparian areas can be grazed and in most cases the overall riparian health can be be maintained and even improved with properly managed grazing (adhering to the four principles of range management; timing, distribution, effective rest and balancing stocking rate with available forage).
Fences are provided to producers to use as a distribution tool. In some situations fences can provide exclusion for a short period of time (2-3 years) in order to rest a recovering riparian area. But after the rest a skim graze would be beneficial (as we discussed on Tuesday).
In many cases fences do exclude cattle from riparian areas but often it is due to other reasons (for example preventing cattle from crossing the river to the neighbours place or drowning)."
Kelsey Dawn Beasley of the Beasley ranch, meanwhile, calls the Cows and Fish workshop there "A great learning experience. It is always a good thing when you are given more options & tools to utilize in ranch management."

-30-

Update to "Big Cattle Operation Worries Local Resident"

A long-time resident of Roblin, Manitoba, CA, Ray Spencer, says the onus will apparently be on him if he wants to proceed with his concerns about a big cattle operation north of town, near Boggy Creek.

(Please read the response of the owners of the operations, the Beasleys to the story, below and the author's response to that, immediately after.)

In a story in the weekly newspaper, the Roblin Review in April, Spencer said those who fish in a small lake next to the ranch, were worried it might get contaminated by the waste from the nearby cattle.
A provincial inspector went to the ranch to investigate his complaint.
But Spencer says the Minister of Conservation, Stan Struthers, has now informed him, he'll have to prove the lake has been polluted by the cattle, before any action can be taken under provincial regulations.
Spencer says he is angry that cattle producers don't seem to have to abide by the same sort of strict waste disposal regulations as, for example, cottage-owners do.
He says he was sure there were rules that would govern such situations. And he is disappointed there apparently are not.
The owners of the operation, John and Kelsey Dawn Beasley, have so far declined to reveal the size of their total herd.
But, an informed source (a person who lives in the general area but wants to remain anonymous), believes the Beasleys may be grazing as many as 3,000 to 4,000 cattle over several sections of land.
=======
Letter to the Editor - The Review - Tues. Apr.21-'09

Dear Editor,
We appreciate the concern expresssed by Larry Powell & Ray Spencer over the well being of Langan Lake. Our family resides within a half-mile of the lake, draws our water form the aquifer around and regularly consume fish from it.
We also fel our ranching business has been mispresented as society often gets misguidied by opinions and prejudices rather than facts.
Firstly, we we are not an intensive livestock operation. We are a large scale, low density cattle ranch. We are stewards of the land and have a great responsibility developing an understanding of rangeland ecosystems and management principles necessary to support them. Sustainable agriculture systems are based on ecological soil management practices which replenish and maintain soil fertility by providing optimum conditions for soil biological activity. We consider our entire land base when making management decisions as our entire land base is located within the Shel River watershed. We reduce off-farm iputs & the environmental hazards associated with chemical applications & the reliance on non-renewable resources while building the organic matter back up in our soils. Sustainable grain farming also follows these principles as valuable inputs cannot be lost into the waterways. It would be like flushing money down the toilet.
Our goal it to produce a safe, sustainable product of superior quality while enhancing our landscape for the next generation. Our cattle are not confined at any time, in any season. We have a year round grazing system that incorporates winter feeding on perennial pastures. Our winter feeding system is primarily bale grazing. We utilize the sytem to lower our costs of production, reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and tractor hours, improve our soil health and improve our watershed by reducing erosion and improving our range condition.
Our grazing system is a detailed and thoughtful process that we constantly monitor, reassess & makke changes accordingly. By incorporating a deferred, rest-rotational system, we have to change the sequence of use of our fields from year to year so that a given field is never grazed the same two years in a row. This is also integrated to our winter management. We rotate our winter feeding sites so we are wintering on a different field every year to recapture our nutrient depletion when it walks off our place via pounds of beef or hauled off via hay or silage. Some limitations include limited access to water and shelter & we are constantly making improvements such as planting shelter belts, improving off site water systems & reducing direct access to waterways.
Please understand tha we too are only human & addressing these issues as quickly as possible as they are of great importance to us. For example with the assistance of Lake of the Prairies Conservation District and the National Farm Stewardship Program, we have developed 3 portable off-site water systems, built over 5 miles of exclusion fencing (& planning to do more) & planted more than 6,000 trees to establish adequate shelter for wintering.
We have completed the Environmental Farm Plan, have a registered manure management plan and have met or exceeded those standards in our management. We are also undergoing a long-term nutrient management project with Mantiba Agricultre & the Roblin Soil Conservation District under Covering New Ground. Soil testing our winter feed sites creates baseline data that proides a means to assess our nutrient levels & make management decisions accordingly. For instance, by trend analysis we are able to determine how our forages are utilizing the nutrients provided by our winter management practices.
By feed testing & keeping detailed records of our feeding practices allows us to determine what goes in the roa & what is put on the ground, what has left via runoff & volatilizationnnn & what has been utilized by th plants, the following growing season. We monitor our Organic Matter Levels with the goal of increasing OM within the soil profile, therefore reducing erosion & increasing the soil's ability to filter & retain nutrients. We monito soil texture & moisture changes, soil pH & conductivity, as well as the changes in ground cover, species composition & yield.
Furthermore, we appreciate the lovely piciture that appeared along with the article as one can see that less than half of the wintering site is covered with leftover feed residue. Our spring time plan for that field includes firstly broadcasting a mixture of legume & grass seeds to replenish the forages, as the wintering site has now provided us with an excellent seedbed todo so. The cows will work thsoe seeds into the soil via hoof action as they clen up the feed residue. Secondly, a prolonged rest period will be provided to allow the seedlings to establish & the existing forages to grow & utilize the nutrients provided.
If anyone would like to tour our operation or has any concerns please feel free to contact us. Hopefully a better appreciation has been created of the management of our rangeland ecosystems & we are more than happy to disseminate knowledge & techniques to individuals interested i the science & are of rangeland stewardship.
We also invite Larry Powell & Ray Spencer to meet with us & provide positive input & solutions to some of their concerns over our management practices.
Sincerely,

John & Kelsey Beasley
Roblin

====

An open letter to John and Kelsey Beasley.

I'm sorry that you seem to have confused my news story about your cattle operation; ("Spencer asks province to check out cattle operation" - Roblin Review - Apr 7 p.16) with a personal expression of my opinion. It was not. I acted as a reporter. I wrote the story. I reported on Mr. Spencer's concerns. Then I interviewed you, John. I got your response on the record and reported on that. Period. That is what reporters do. Pretty standard stuff. So the opinions expressed in the piece were not my own. They belonged solely to the people quoted in it, namely Mr. Spencer and you, John. Both were quoted at some length and both received very close to the same amount of space.
Whether I privately agree with Mr. Spencer, or you, John & Kelsey, is of absolutely no consequence here. My job was to accurately record the events and opinions expressed in the story. As far as I know, I did. If there were factual errors or misquotes in the story, no one has pointed them out to me.
I believe the points I've already made, also render as misleading the headline attached to your own letter-to-the-editor, "Beasleys appreciate Powell's and Spencer's concerns,"
I'd like to set the record straight on another count, too. You informed me on the 'phone, Kelsey Dawn, that I had been the one to call in a provincial inspector to examine your operation. I did not. As a reporter, it would not have been proper for me to have done that. I would invite anyone to re-read the very headline of the story, then re-read the first line. ".....Ray Spencer has asked.....Water Stewardship to look into..." So I believe it was abundantly clear it was Mr. Spencer, not myself, who did this. And he has never hesitated in saying this publicly. So why would anyone conclude that it was me? In your e-mail to me, Kelsey Dawn, you said, "You are completely justified in your actions and I appreciate your concern over this water quality issue." But why direct that at me? It was Mr. Spencer who raised those concerns. I just reported on them.
So I'll be reserving my right as a journalist to continue to convey to the public, concerns about newsworthy matters of legitimate public interest and importance. This is sometimes controversial. And controversy is not always pretty.
But I believe it is a price we must pay for an informed public and a healthy democracy.
Sincerely, Larry Powell Roblin MB
====
Kelsey Dawn said...

Larry,
Just wanted to clarify a few things in your previous response.
We didn't attach the headline in the letter to the editor, I am not sure who did.
I also didn't say you were the person who contacted manitoba conservation, you misunderstood. Furthermore, because you were so very quick to assit Ray via reporting a story on us (an action that to me seemed a little onesided towards your own opinions), I contacted you. I don't have a contact for Ray. Also I feel you are more willing to communicate with me than Ray is.
And finally the amount of cattle we run is not the issue, it is how those cattle on managed on the landscape that is the issue. Frankly how many cows we run is like asking us what our net worth is, it's none of anyone's business, but if a person is that curious I guess they could count cows from the roadside and see for themselves.
Lastly, thanks for coming out to the riparian workshop, I hope you enjoyed it. I know that I had a great learning experience. It is always a good thing when you are given more options & tools to utilize in ranch management.
Sincerely,
Kelsey
===
Larry Powell said...

Kelsey - I'm glad you're reading and responding to these articles. It is a good way to reach some mutual understanding on things, sometimes.
You are right about the headline - it would have been Ed, the newspaper editor who wrote that -
I was thinking of submitting the "open letter" to you as another letter to the editor. But I changed my mind.
I really have no appetite to perpetuate a running "feud" in public. (At least not beyond the limited readership of this blog.) I'm sure you don't, either.
I was happy to attend the workshop.
While the story I've written on it may not be in the form you would have liked, either, I have re-worked it several times from the original draft and made it, I believe, balanced and fair.
(Now posted on my blog.)
I also believe you, Michael and Eric did a good job in explaining the merits of riparian management.
So, while I raise the question of a "mixed message," I see no reason why readers, once they see the details, will not just as easily agree with Eric - i.e. that there isn't one.
I'd welcome your input on this latest story, or anything else in future, too.
I will always publish your response.
Larry
====
Another Comment;

Why the hell should Struthers care after all they let cattle enter both the

Icelandic River and Lake Winnipeg near Riverton, for years now. He's blind to the pollution aspect, can't understand what he can't see. Thats my thought on the subject.

Peter Marykuca

The Swine Flu Scare Lays Bare the Meat Industry's Monstrous Power

By *Mike Davis. Posted April 28, 2009.

(Photo courtesy of "Centre for Research on Globaliziation")

Animal husbandry now more closely resembles the petrochemical industry than the happy family farm. Click on title for more ...
======

Please also read - Flying Pigs, Tamiflu and Factory Farms - by F. William Engdahl
AND

Swine Flu Is Related to Virus Born on U.S. Hog Factories in 1998
AND
A FOOD SYSTEM THAT KILLS
New from GRAIN - April 2009

SWINE FLU IS MEAT INDUSTRY'S LATEST PLAGUE

Read more here...

COMMENT:
Johanne Dion said...

Very few seem to want to ask the question: how do these epidemics start and what can we do to avoid them? Seems to me that factory farming is just begging for these new virus mutations while creating pools of superbugs by using micro-dosing of antibiotics.

A productive thing than anybody in an industrialized country can do is to buy pork and ham that comes from a family size, almost organic pig farm, and avoid all prepared meats that come from big mainstream companies that have promoted these intensive, packed inhuman factory farms. The only way to get companies like Smithfields to change their ways is through their wallet.

Anybody who lives in a small village like mine that has had a 5,800 pig farm imposed upon them, like I have, will agree with me. Ask the people of La Gloria, Mexico.

Johanne Dion
Richelieu,
Province of Quebec,
Canada

April 30, 2009 4:07 PM
=========
Johanne Dion said...

You might like to read and add this interesting article on the subject:

April 30, 2009 4:38 PM

13 Breathtaking Effects of Cutting Back on Meat

By Kathy Freston, AlterNet. Posted April 22, 2009.

The meat industry contributes to land degradation, climate change, air pollution, water shortage and pollution, and loss of biodiversity.

Read more here....
Photos by L.P.
Click on "Water" and "Livestock" labels to the right for related stories.

Big Cattle Operation Worries Local Resident - by Larry Powell

(See update in newer post.)

A long-time resident of the Roblin area of western Manitoba, Ray Spencer, has asked the Manitoba Department of Water Stewardship to look into an intensive livestock operation north of the town, near Boggy Creek.

The cattle in question with Langen Lk. in b.g.

He says too many cattle (perhaps hundreds) are being fed in a field which slopes directly into Langen Lake, used for years by anglers in the area.

Many are members of the local San Clara/Boggy Creek Metis community. The Lake itself was named for Pat Langen, who used to live nearby.

Spencer, an angler, hunting guide, retired farmer and former livestock specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, has talked to some of the people who fish there. And they are worried the waste from the cattle is polluting the lake. (r.) He says some even fear the lake, noted for its walleye, may even die in a few years as a result. Another Beasley herd in the area, but away from the lake.

Hundreds of Black Angus cattle are wintering on several fields in the immediate area, including the herd near the lake.
Almost every square meter of the frozen fields (l.) is covered with raw, solid cattle waste.

Spencer believes there are about 12 hundred cattle there, altogether.

In his words, "What concerns me is the wintering of all these livestock next to a conservation lake. The raw manure could drain right in."

He says overflow from the lake drains into the Shell River, a main waterway in the area.

But the owner of the livestock, John Beasley, does not believe this is happening.

He says he'd like to see test results from the lake water before he will accept it is being polluted.

Beasley claims he's "not exactly sure," even roughly, how many cattle he has.

In any case, he believes it's not the actual numbers, but the way they are managed, that's relevant.

Beasley believes he does what he can to keep pollution to a minimum.

He says he's planted trees, put up a fence which keeps the cattle back from the lake and an "off-site" watering system,(r.) 200 meters back from the water. He says he also grows perennial forage crops to keep nutrient buildup to a minimum.

He wonders whether those who are concerned would rather see cerial crops in the area, where lots of chemicals would be sprayed.

He says he has talked to those who fish in the lake and no one has complained to him, directly.

He says he fishes in the lake himself and "takes the fishery seriously."

Meanwhile, Spencer says he has asked Water Stewardship to investigate and believes an inspector will be out any day now.
====

UPDATE - The Department of Conservation (not Water Stewardship) dispatched a rookie "Environmental Officer," Dave Yunker, to the scene yesterday. (Mar.24th) All he would say is, "It may look bad" with all that manure on the hill, but he'll have to check with his boss to find out if any regulations have been broken.
(He did say that Beasley has registered a manure management plan for his operation.) Stay tuned! l.p.

(Photos by l.p.)

==========
PLEASE ALSO READ; Lake of the Prairies - the New Lake Winnipeg? - by Larry Powell

=======
COMMENT:
This is great reporting, Larry - good photos, too!
Who needs the CBC???? (losing hundreds of jobs! Disgusting!)
Elaine Hughes

Future Hog Barn Development Will Be Less "Extreme." Minister

ROBLIN, MB. Oct. 20-'08 by Larry Powell

Manitoba's Conservation Minister, Stan Struthers, promises that past mistakes in the way factory hog barns have grown up in parts of the province, will not be repeated elsewhere.
Struthers makes the remarks in an interview with "Paths Less Travelled" today.
(Struthers Photo Courtesy Gov of MB)
In the face of sustained and sometimes vicious opposition from the hog lobby,
Struthers (also the Minister responsible for the environment) recently piloted a law through the provincial legislature, freezing the development of new factory hog barns in three areas of the province; the Interlake, the Red River Valley and the southeast.
But new ones will still be allowed in the rest of the province!
In that regard, Struthers has reassuring words for people in these areas (like myself) who might fear they will be adversely affected by new barns.
He says a working group will bring recommendations back to him that will address such things as spread fields, nutrient levels and the ability of crops to take up those nutrients from the soil.
Environmentalists and others have complained in the past that too much slurry (the waste from millions of hogs in these barns), has been applied too heavily as fertilizer on "spread fields," where crops like corn or forage are typically grown.
This practice creates as excess of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous. These then build up in the soil and wash off into rivers, streams and lakes, notably Lake Winnipeg.
There, they promote the growth of algae which deprives waterways of oxygen. (Lake Winnipeg is one of the world's largest fresh-water lakes with one of the biggest drainage areas.)
At least one scientist said recently, Lake Winnipeg is in danger of becoming a "dead zone,"in which waterways become so polluted they choke out all important aquatic life, including fish.
Several huge dead zones already exist in many parts of the world. And, they're growing. Fed by things like synthetic farm fertilizers, livestock, industrial and human waste, they wipe out commercial fisheries and often provide homes for nothing more than jellyfish!
Struthers referred to the many pig factories that have sprung up around La Broquerie and Hanover in the southeast over the past several years, for example, as "extreme."
But he believes many existing big barns in such locations will now start installing state-of-the art sewage treatment plans, even better than some already in use in urban centres. He says they will have to make such improvements, if they want to expand those facilities.
He also thinks more and more companies will harness the methane from their own operations to generate power and thus keep their costs down.
And he hints that improvements proposed in a report of the Clean Environment Commission, (into hog industry "sustainability") will be incorporated into the report from his working group. That, he says, will mean that the mistakes of the past, will not be repeated.
Big changes could also be on the way in the process surrounding future project approvals, the Minister hints.
Technical Review Committees have gained the reputation of being rubber stamps for barn applications in the past.
Struthers says those committees have been "worse than rubber stamps. They have simply rammed projects through!"
The Minister also suggests ways must be found to take the pressure off smaller farmers, the kind exerted by the big industrial-style barns, so they can continue to survive. He suggests organic farming could be a solution.
Struthers believes the trend toward the large factory-style hog barns began several years ago, when the previous Tory government did away with the Hog Marketing Board.
He confesses he would have liked the subsequent NDP government to have held a vote, to decide whether farmers wanted it back. No vote was ever held.
Struthers did not say when the working group will get back to him with recommendations on the future course of hog industry development. But, as he puts it, "The sooner, the better."
====================
Footnote: I believe Stan Struthers and his government ought to be congratulated. He navigated the "moratorium bill" (the one which put a hold on hog barn construction in 3 areas of the province already saturated by them) through the Legislature under tremendous, often frenetic pressure from the hog lobby, represented by the Manitoba Pork Council. The Council, already the recipient of mounds of "corporate welfare" from all levels of government, continues to howl that it has been "picked on" & that it is not really to blame for pollution problems associated with its industry.
Manitoba's hog population has ballooned from about 2 million in 1990 to more than 9 million today!
As the Minister himself puts it, "How much is enough?"
Having said all that, I believe the real test of government sincerity will unfold down the road. If the hog industry is allowed to "saturate" the rest of the province, as it has already done in the 3 areas mentioned, (also under the watch of Struther's government) before being reigned in again, good will for this government, at least in my circle of friends, acquaintances and others who actually value the quality of our land, air and water, will quickly evaporate. L.P.

SO WHO'SE UNFRIENDLY? MANITOBANS OR THE HOG LOBBY?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, May 19, 2008 Beyond Factory Farming Manitoba, a group promoting the ethical production of livestock, has launched a new website as a response to the "Unfriendly Manitoba" ad campaign by the Manitoba Pork Council. “It’s time to put the friendly back into Manitoba farming,” says BFF's Glen Koroluk. There is a small minority in our community who would make you believe that Bill 17 would devastate our province. The Truth of the matter is that the Bill does not go far enough! It will still allow unfriendly factory hog barns to continue to operate and expand in most of rural Manitoba. Bill 17 is an amendment to the Manitoba Environment Act which. If enacted, it will prohibit the construction of new, confined livestock areas for hogs and hog manure storage facilities, or the expansion of exisiting ones, in specific areas of Manitoba. It allows existing factory farms in these areas to operate business as usual. However, these areas make up less than a third of Manitoba’s farm land, leaving the rest of the province open for unfettered large-scale factory hog production. Shifting a polluting industry from one part of the province to the other is not friendly to family farms, not friendly to the environment, and not friendly to rural Manitoba. And as it stands, Bill 17 will not reverse the deterioration of our provincial waterways, including Lake Winnipeg. In fact, with millions of dollars of taxpayer aid, Manitoba’s hog industry is restructuring, consolidating and expanding its slaughter capacity. This means Maple Leaf Foods and Hytek will be building new factory finishing barns in western Manitoba. The launch of http://www.friendlymanitoba.org will take place: 11:00 am on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at the Forks Market: Tower Atrium (beside the canopy) For further information, call Glen Koroluk at 296-2872 cell 943-3945  

- 30 -