WINNIPEG (Staff) – The outcome of Manitoba’s provincial election could help decide the future of Manitoba Pork est., the single-desk selling agency for hogs in the province.
Last summer, the provincial government commissioned a report that called for the agency to be removed in the interests of doubling production.
Ken Foster, chair of Manitoba Pork est., said the Conservative government had not yet committed itself to disbanding the agency, but the agriculture minister agreed with the report.
“From some of the comments that Harry (Enns) makes, we have to believe he is very much inclined to want to remove our single-desk selling agency. I’m sure of it,” said Foster.
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The agency is calling on its 2,200 producers to make the report an issue in their ridings. Foster said an independent phone survey of 422 producers done in November showed 62 percent rejected the idea of getting rid of the agency, while 83 percent said it does a good job of marketing hogs.
Foster said Manitoba Pork has not tried to control production.
“They seem to have this idea that there’s a bunch of investors sitting at the border of Manitoba willing to come in here and spend millions of dollars in the processing industry if we would just allow this to happen. But they have never given us any evidence of this happening.”
He said a problem in increasing production is getting permission from rural municipalities to increase barn size and build new operations.
In the past year, there have been several cases where neighbors of proposed operations have banded together and lobbied municipal councillors to refuse permission for expansion on environmental grounds.
Foster said the province needs to provide uniform regulations for local governments and a provincial appeal process for decisions.
