Manitoba Pork Council chair Marcel Hacault has watched the experience of livestock producers in the United Kingdom, where land-use restrictions have made it difficult to farm. He figures British farms are valued more as tourist attractions than as producers of food.
He said farmers in Manitoba are starting to feel the same kinds of pressures.
“I think the producers may be feeling a bit under siege.”
The animal rights movement has joined environmentalists under the Hog Watch Manitoba coalition to challenge intensive livestock farming.
Read Also
Government, industry seek canola tariff resolution
Governments and industry continue to discuss how best to deal with Chinese tariffs on Canadian agricultural products, particularly canola.
Vicki Burns of the Winnipeg Humane Society decries the treatment of hogs in large, intensive units. She said sows live in crates so small there is no room to turn around.
She would prefer to see group housing for the sows where straw bedding is provided.
“I can’t see any justification for keeping any animal confined in a space so small that it can’t turn around for the majority of its life,” she said. “The reality is that it’s happening here strictly for economic benefit. I think we have to start balancing ethics with economics.”
Hacault said it is in the producers’ best interest to treat their livestock well. He does not want one method of production imposed over another. People sniping at the industry from ivory towers in Winnipeg need to understand that the pigs are raised for meat, not as pets.
“We’re food producers. What Vicki is trying to do is give pet characteristics to food and I disagree with that.”
