Review of pork industry wouldn’t be hogwash

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/04/2017 (3200 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In case you hadn’t noticed, the province has gone hog wild for changes to the pork industry.

Last month, the Progressive Conservative government introduced legislation that, in conjunction with an upcoming review of regulations concerning the industry, could roll back many of the restrictions introduced more than a decade ago by the former NDP government.

Those restrictions were brought in because the former government believed this was the best way to prevent toxic algae growth that has been literally choking the life out of Lake Winnipeg — much of which has been and continues to be blamed on the hog industry in this province.

As a point of fact, the Tories are not deregulating the hog industry — far from it. Many basic restrictions on hog operations will remain in place, including a prohibition on the spreading of manure on snow-covered or frozen fields and requirements that producers get expert advice in building manure-storage facilities. As well, producers will still have to create soil-testing and manure-management plans that must be approved by government.

However, in many other areas, the government’s grip on the industry will loosen.

The proposed changes that reduce requirements for soil testing, allow for larger manure-storage facilities and offer increased flexibility in identifying fields on which to spray manure as fertilizer, are clearly designed to allow producers to increase the number of hogs they are raising.

With a little more than eight million hogs raised annually, Manitoba is the largest pork producer in Canada. However, neither of Manitoba’s two main hog-processing plants operate near capacity. The opportunity for hog farmers to increase production and improve their margins is rather compelling.

This is also good news when it comes to the potential for jobs at the HyLife plant in Neepawa and the Maple Leaf facility in Brandon. Should pork production ramp up, there will be greater need for skilled labour.

And yet, the hog industry is among the most environmentally challenged in all of agriculture. Hogs produce enormous amounts of manure, and the safe storage and disposal of said manure is a paramount concern. Right now, hog producers dilute the manure and then spray it as fertilizer on agricultural fields. For the industry to expand, producers would need access to more “suitable land,” as it is described in regulation — and be able to use it more frequently.

Do these regulations accomplish those goals? It is hard to say with certainty. Government officials claim the loosening of regulations is safe and justified based on evolving environmental and soil science. And yet, less-frequent testing of soil and land and greater “flexibility” in identifying suitable land for manure spraying doesn’t seem to suggest “safer.” And the Tories have really produced no evidential basis for this regulatory change.

In fact, the Progressive Conservatives have long held that the NDP’s unnecessarily stringent policies have been “negatively affecting Manitoba’s hog industry for years,” at least according to a December 2014 press release.

“The NDP refuses to implement the reforms needed to save Manitoba’s hot industry,” it reads. “As a result jobs related to the industry continue to be put in jeopardy.”

While we support our farmers and the continued existence of the hog industry in this province, to us, the statement above does not sound like a disinterested third party that is basing policy on fact-based scientific analysis.

The best option for the government is to subject all legal or regulatory changes to a full hearing of the Clean Environment Commission. Currently, there is no plan to do that. Most of the current law and regulation up for debate was either informed or created by the commission’s seminal review of the hog industry more than a decade ago. Certainly it makes sense now to call on the commission once again to review these changes.

Arm’s-length reviews of public law or policy are essential when government finds itself in an inherent conflict of interest, which is the case here. The province has a responsibility to promote economic growth through industrial activity. The province also has a solemn responsibility to safeguard the environment.

The only way to strike the balance is to have a fair and independent review by knowledgeable people who can make recommendations without political fear or favour. Bypassing a review by the commission will serve only to undermine changes that very well could be safe and reasonable, which is ultimately a disservice to hog producers.

» Winnipeg Free Press and The Brandon Sun