MANITOBA is to be congratulated for policies designed to improve water quality in Lake Winnipeg, but a draconian ban on new hog barns and expansions in much of southern Manitoba is unwarranted.
The Manitoba government is moving on a broad front to reduce sources of phosphorus flowing into Lake Winnipeg but only hog producers face severe restrictions that could interfere with their livelihoods.
The ban goes beyond the recommendations of the Clean Environment Commission’s report and runs counter to normal concepts of fairness and justice. Instead of painting all hog operations in the three regions as guilty by reason of geography, the government should judge each hog operation on its merits.
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If treated fairly, farmers have already shown they are willing do their part to lessen the threat to Lake Winnipeg, the tenth largest freshwater lake in the world.
Lake Winnipeg is threatened by toxic blue-green algae blooms that cause huge dead zones in the lake. The blooms are fed by phosphorus. Sewage and nutrient runoff from fertilizer and manure spreading add to natural levels of the nutrient.
Manitoba’s ability to fix the problem is impeded by the lake’s huge watershed that extends across the Prairies, the United States and Ontario. A lot of the phosphorus in the lake came from outside Manitoba but that hasn’t stopped it from trying to clean its own house.
The province, Winnipeg and other municipalities have embarked on a costly program to upgrade sewage treatment to remove nutrients.
It will soon restrict the use of phosphorus-containing fertilizer on lawns and golf courses and the sale of dishwasher detergent containing phosphorus and it has urged the federal government to make such restrictions national.
It has paid particular attention to agriculture with bans on spreading manure in winter and creating buffer zones along waterways where fertilizer and chemicals can’t be applied. Indeed, hog producers face the most rigorous regulation and monitoring, even though they contribute only about 1.5 percent of the phosphorus flowing into the lake.
Hog producers were already doing their bit to save the lake, but now must carry additional restrictions that no other Manitobans face. There are no bans on new industry, housing, golf courses or cottages although all contribute to the phosphorus problem.
The financial losses hog producers now suffer due to the strong dollar, low hog prices and high feed prices preclude near term expansion, but profitability will return and when it does producers should be able to expand.
Research is providing innovative ways to process manure so it presents no danger to waterways, such as digesters that produce methane to fire generators and nutrient rich compost for fertilizer.
Operations planning expansions should be judged on their merits. If the plan is environmentally sound and meets regulations, it should be allowed regardless of location, just like any other business.
Bruce Dyck, Terry Fries, Barb Glen, D’Arce McMillan and Ken Zacharias collaborate in the writing of Western Producer editorials.
