Removing our blinders on pollution

[Oscar]

Removing our blinders on pollution

May 9, 2025 - Need subscription . . . .

(PHOTO below: Shoreline of Beautiful Lake Winnipeg!)

[ https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opini ... rs-may-9-8 ]

Re: Manitoba, Ottawa deny blame in Lake Winnipeg suit (May 7) - (Subscription Required)

"As an advocate for the health of Lake Winnipeg for almost two decades now, I share in the frustration and anger of the First Nations about the lack of progress on decreasing the pollution of Lake Winnipeg. The phosphorus and nitrogen (nutrients) that are getting into our streams, rivers and ultimately Lake Winnipeg, feed the blue-green algae blooms that are fouling the waters at times.

Those algae blooms sometimes contain very dangerous toxins that affect humans, animals and much aquatic life.

The City of Winnipeg is the largest point source of those nutrients, but runoff from the land, including urban landscapes and agricultural fields, are significant non-point sources, which account for much more of the phosphorus and nitrogen that are causing the problem. According to the city’s website, its contribution to the problem from sewage, has decreased by over 25 per cent since upgrades to the south end, west end and partial upgrade to the north end plant have been completed in the last few years. There is much more work to be done to by the city but why are we not talking about and demanding accountability from possibly the largest contributor of nutrients from Manitoba’s agricultural landscape, the factory style hog industry?

The hog industry in Manitoba is producing almost eight million pigs a year and has the dubious distinction of being the most intensive of anywhere in Canada with about 6,000 pigs per site. That means a huge amount of manure which has to be applied to the land every year in relatively close proximity to the animal barns. The manure is effective fertilizer when applied in the right amount at the right time, but in Manitoba it is legal to apply as much as five times the amount of manure that any crop can use in one year, as long as it is not applied there for another five years. But what happens to the excess phosphorus and nitrogen that is not taken up by the crop that year? It is available to run off during the spring snow melt or big rainstorms or floods.

For several years, Hog Watch Manitoba [ https://hogwatchmanitoba.ca/news/articles/ ] has been asking for data collection to determine how much phosphorus and nitrogen are in ditches alongside manure spread fields but neither the province nor the industry have responded positively to this request.

If we are really serious about restoring the health of Lake Winnipeg, we will have to remove the blinders and focus some of the attention on the hog industry, both measuring its contribution to the problem and then altering practices to decrease its impact on the lake."

Vicki Burns,
Winnipeg

[Oscar]

Time to Speak out about the Hog Industry

John Fefchak - May 12, 2025 - ***SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED***

Re: Letter-removing our blinders on pollution. (May 7)

“Manitoba only has 566 hog farms, but those operations have a massive impact on the economy,” That may be so, but it also has a massive impact on the environment and our water sources, including Lake Winnipeg.

As a letter writer, I will speak out about the hog industry and ask, “what is the future for Manitoba, Is it just a toilet for the industrial hog industry?

Bad ideas and poor operating principles are very costly.

The lessons are: we must learn from the former Manitoba Conservatives’ and the NDP government’s past mistakes.

Is this pointless rhetoric from a long time ago? Hardly. We should all benefit and learn from the past. Who initiated and spread out the welcome mat?

The Conservative regime of government must bear that imprudent act alone, for it was done without benefit of any studies whatsoever and literally double-crossed every farmer who used to raise hogs for a living and sale.

The Conservatives also eliminated the competitive single desk selling as promised to Maple Leaf Foods president Michael McCain. Our NDP government, however, was not virtuous in this business of meat for export for they also allowed and encouraged the rampant growth of producing hogs to continue, even though, when in opposition, they openly deplored the Industry coming to Manitoba.

They expressed concerns about manure pollution to our water sources. This hog industry is a meat-exporting business. Manitobans consume about six percent of their production. The rest is shipped away, leaving Manitobans and our water sources to deal with all the waste and pollution that is produced and left behind, adding just one more value-added concept, as initially proclaimed by the Conservative government.

More facts: Manitoba’s hog industry is destructive to the environment, say experts, and the return of scale mixed farming is needed to combat the influence of Industrial pig operations in the province

You can’t raise animals in factories and be environmentally benign, says Joe Dolecki, former professor of environmental economics at Brandon University.

In industrial agriculture you have so much waste that it is impossible not to end up polluting.

And, Eva Pip, a former biology professor and aquatic toxicologist at the University of Winnipeg, pointed to phosphorus run-off as a main contributor to algal bloom problems in Lake Winnipeg, according to an ongoing study that she has devoted herself to for more than 40 years.

Yes, Manitobans, if you care about our waters, Lake Winnipeg and the environment, it’s time to share your concerns and speak out about the hog Industry.

John Fefchak.
Virden.
204 748 2521