Hog barn proposals are still piling up in Manitoba behind a regulatory
logjam, but in about two years the path should be clear for the
province’s hog industry to expand.
Hog industry proponents say the regulations that the Manitoba
government intends to enact will remove the confusion that dominates
new hog barn approvals.
“A lot have been stalled, delayed, or not even brought forward because
people were worried,” said Garry Tolton, a Manitoba Pork Council
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Pork council chair Marcel Hacault said it has taken time to begin
fixing the approval process, but farmers wanting to build or expand
operations are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
“We asked for more predictability and clarity with the rules and the
roles of all the people involved and this has the potential to do
that,” he said.
The provincial government plans to require local governments to
designate livestock and non-livestock areas, to impose provincial rules
for setbacks and separation distances between operations, and impose a
standard review process.
Battles have raged in many Manitoba rural municipalities between people
who want to build new hog barns and those who want to stop them.
Opponents have tried to convince RM councillors to refuse approval for
large-scale projects and have often claimed the large projects pose
environmental dangers. Under the present regulations, RMs have
far-reaching powers to reject industrial developments.
Projects have been approved, but only at the cost of great local
conflict. Some have been rejected after a similar battle.
RM councillors have resigned in some cases because they found the
battles too divisive.
Hog barn projects have been put on hold by councils that have imposed
temporary bans designed to give them time to come up with livestock
approval criteria. Other RMs have imposed indefinite bans on
large-scale livestock operation approvals.
But the province’s proposed regulations would take most of the power to
approve or disapprove livestock operations out of the hands of RM
councils. They would be compelled to develop land use plans that would
designate which land could contain livestock. The land use plan would
only become law if the provincial government approved it.
Hog barns would automatically be approved at the municipal level if
they were proposed for livestock-designated areas. They would then pass
into provincial government hands, where officials would determine
whether the barns met environmental and other standards.
Hacault thinks the new process will depoliticize the building of new
barns.
“It’ll let everybody do their jobs,” he said. “It’ll let municipalities
do their development plans. The province will be able to concentrate on
monitoring these sites and enforcing the legislation. And farmers will
be able to farm.”
Producers won’t be caught in political situations that arise after
preliminary approval has been given, something that has happened under
the present system.
“By the time a barn starts being built, the decision will already have
been made.”
Independent farm families will probably benefit the most, Hacault said.
Big hog production companies were willing to fight to get new projects
approved and did so over the last few years, but many independent
producers were intimidated by the unclear process.
“They’ll probably find the system won’t be so confrontational.”
Tolton said industry growth will probably be slow for another couple of
years until all municipalities have developed land use plans. Once the
situation is settled, hog farmers will probably get back on the
expansion road.
“This should get municipalities to make decisions for the right
reasons,” he said.
“We need the environment looked after, but the rules can’t be so
stringent that we can’t operate.”
