Don Neufeld hadn’t yet seen Harley Shepherd and Daniel Kliever on the news, discussing their concerns about hog barns near Kola, Man.
But he said he figured the boys were likely to have a strong impact on urban viewers.
In the past few years, the grain farmer and municipal councilor from Kola has been in the thick of local angst over hog barns. Neufeld said he regrets that the issue is dividing neighbors.
“You know, there’s always two sides to look at everything.”
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He said there were virtually no hogs in the Rural Municipality of Wallace five years ago.
Now, there are 6,000 sows, plus associated weanling and feeder barns.
The municipality is also home to cattle and pregnant mares’ urine farms.
“There’s no doubt that animals stink,” said Neufeld, adding the hog barns have been built with stringent requirements to protect the environment.
He sympathizes with families downwind from odors. On hot, humid nights, he can smell the barns, too. But Neufeld supports the expansion because adding value to crops is the only future he sees for farmers and rural communities.
“For our area, that has probably meant 22 new jobs in barns and 15 at the local feed mill.”
Young people don’t have to move to cities to find jobs. The school has stayed open.
The village got natural gas service and other infrastructure that otherwise would have passed it by, he said.
At their news conference, Shepherd and Kliever acknowledged hog barns bring economic benefits to the town, but Shepherd said barn owners profit at his family’s expense.
He said his family asked the owners to use charcoal filters to cut down on barn odors, and buy covers for the lagoons. But the owners said the measures cost too much money.
“It’s nice to know those pigs come before the health of people in the nearby areas,” Shepherd said. “It just makes me sick.”
He said the government should require hog barns to use technologies that prevent odors and pollution.
