Manitobans deserve transparency, not unsubstantiated environmental claims from their pork sector.

Hog Watch Manitoba - June 23rd, 2023.

    Hog Watch Manitoba, a non-profit, advocacy group, says it believes a recent claim by Manitoba Pork about how much water it is using, needs more proof.     

    In a newspaper ad, the industry organization declares, “Hog farms today require 40% less water per kilogram of pork produced, compared to fifty years ago.”   

    Larry Powell of Hog Watch says this doesn’t tell the whole story. 

    "Even if consumption per unit has gone down, what does it matter when that figure is surely being eclipsed by rising animal numbers? There are well over three times as many pigs on Manitoba farms now as there were half-a-century ago. 

    "Not only that, the use of slurry, which has been spread on vast farm fields in this province for decades, is more than 80% water. It's been on the increase since the nineties. 

    "A University of Manitoba study concluded that pigs produced 346 thousand tonnes of dry manure in 2007 alone. Since the spreading of slurry was a common and growing practise, even back then, it must surely have added up to a staggering total.

An industry photo.

    "Besides, research by the industry itself shows finisher pigs can waste up to 25% of the water they use, even from 'well-managed' nipple-drinkers."

    Powell adds, there's good reason the public deserves full disclosure on this vital issue. 

    "Experts have long been warning, 'As climate change tightens its grip, multi-year droughts are taking a severe toll, especially on cattle and grain producers. With drought and heatwaves becoming a worsening problem on the semi-arid Canadian prairies, competition for a diminishing supply of water will become a major problem in the future. And excess use of water by this industry may be a threat to both local and regional water sources.'

    "So if Manitoba Pork wants to be seen as a good corporate citizen, the people of this province need more assurance than this, that our finite supply of freshwater can sustain it, indefinitely into the future."

                                                

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    Hog Watch Manitoba is a non-profit organization, a coalition of environmentalists, farmers, friends of animals, social justice advocates, scientists and concerned citizens. We are promoting a hog industry in Manitoba that is ethically, environmentally, and economically sustainable. 

    Data for this statement comes from Statistics Canada, Environment Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and the MB Clean Environment Commission.

Manitoba's beautiful Duck Mountain under threat from logging

 

Please read this related article from more than a decade ago.

Writer condemns the wisdom of allowing factory farms to proliferate in Manitoba

 Letter to the editor.

"The entire pork industry in Manitoba is facing a difficult time. That includes the hog farmers as well as the processors," GM Cam Dahl of MB Pork told the Brandon Sun, 17 June,2023.

 Without the benefit of taxpayers’ dollars (read: government support), the Manitoba hog industry (not farming) would have collapsed many years ago. 

Born and raised on a farm, I appreciate the proper raising and care of swine. Pigs produced in a factory-type situation however, live in conditions that are far removed from achieving humane animal stewardship status. 

Bad ideas and poor operating principles are very costly for the animals, our environment and society. 

It was some 24 years ago that the Filmon Progressive Conservative government unfurled the red carpet and opened Pandora’s box for the hog Industry to come into Manitoba. Now, since being elected in 2016, the Pallister and Stefanson regimes—through their Red Tape Reduction Act—have taken the cue to further expand the industry by discarding much of the legislation that had been put in place to protect our environment, Lake Winnipeg, and Manitoba water sources. 

Yes, it is very clear that Mr. Pallister and Premier Stefanson’s ministers have been busy reading the Filmon manual on how to manage the Manitoba government on the value-added concept of economics regarding the hog Industry. 

I often think there are those who will not be pleased with anything short of a regulatory footprint so light it allows hog barns to be built on floating platforms in the middle of Lake Winnipeg.  

This hog industry of Maple Leaf Foods and foreign-owned Hylife Foods is a meat exporting business. Manitobans consume about six per cent of their production. The rest is shipped away, leaving Manitobans to deal with all the waste and pollution that is leaves behind.

Unfortunately, polluted water, toxic air, health concerns and the plight of rural residents is not a consideration to Manitoba’s government. 

This political transgression of ruination is upon us, affecting the future of our children and generations that follow. 

John Fefchak

Virden , MB

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The Arctic may be sea-ice-free in summer by the 2030s

 Nature Communications

                                       Photo by Patrick Kelley  

The Arctic could be sea-ice-free during the month of September as early as the 2030s even under a low emissions scenario — about one decade earlier than previously projected — suggests a study published in Nature Communications. 

United in Science: We are heading in the wrong direction

Geneva, 13 September 2022 (WMO) - Climate science is clear: we are heading in the wrong direction, according to a new multi-agency report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which highlights the huge gap between aspirations and reality. DETAILS HERE.

Substance or showmanship? What's the key to success at the polls? According to the "At Issue" panel - the answer might surprise you! (Letter)

Dear Editor,

And here I thought there were things governments could do to make our planet safer from the ravages of manmade climate change - offer subsidies to those who give us cleaner energy alternatives, or regulations to those who pollute. 

Then, those of us who want to save our earthly home from climate catastrophe, can simply vote for the Party that seems most likely to do these things.

The “At Issue" panel on CBC TV reminded me just how wrong I was, when they recently discussed the topic of Alberta, now facing epic wildfires amidst an election campaign.

The guest panelist from Alberta thought “Danielle,” (Premier Danielle Smith) was “generally acting as a Premier” in the face of the crisis. (I wonder if she knows him as “Jason?”) The other panelists generally thought the way the Premier was handling things would probably be seen as "a plus,” too.

Never mind that, it wasn't that long ago that Smith considered the science of climate change, “unsettled,” or now describes the federal program to transition away from fossil fuels, “an existential threat.” 

Neither does it apparently matter that, when Premier herself, Rachel Notley moved to phase out coal and place a cap on oil sands emissions.

I believe this panel, which mostly offers intelligent insight into world affairs, missed the mark this time.

They also insulted Alberta voters by suggesting they'll be basing their votes - not on solid, science-based policies which will make or break a successful, long-term counter-offensive against these"Hellfires" - but rather on a death-bed display of “showmanship” in the final days of a campaign.

Larry Powell

SHOAL LK MB