For its promoters, dreams of a dramatic expansion in the prairie hog industry come complete with fantasies about money in the bank.
For increasing numbers of prairie people who may end up living downwind from one of those pig barns or packing plants, it sounds more like a nightmare of water
contamination and some not-so-sweet odors.
In the middle often stands the local government whose job it is to regulate waste
management and the expected explosion of intensive livestock operations.
Regulators and industry officials vow they do not want a repeat of the “North Carolina model” on the Prairies, a hog industry which is hitting its ceiling amid a popular outcry over pollution and poor regulation.
In this special report, Calgary-based correspondent Barbara Duckworth examines the issue of waste management, the smell of livestock and some of the plans for coping with livestock industry expansion.
