Hog scapegoats
As a proud third generation farmer, I was puzzled when reading Mr. Fefchak’s recent assertions (Open Forum, May 12) about the cause of the phosphorus problem in Lake Winnipeg.
While I share his concerns about the overabundance of nutrients entering the lake, I simply cannot allow his unfair scapegoating of Manitoba’s 1,400 hog farmers to go unchallenged.
While the scientifically verified facts may not fit into Mr. Fefchak’s preconceived views of the situation, the truth remains. Manitoba Conservation and Manitoba Water Stewardship research clearly shows that only about 12 percent of Lake Winnipeg’s total phosphorus load can be attributed to agriculture as a whole from the Canadian portion of the Red River.
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Additionally, at least 85 percent of the total phosphorus applied to agricultural land in Manitoba comes from commercial fertilizer, not livestock manure from pigs, cattle, horses or poultry.
Furthermore, the vast majority of Manitoba farmland is phosphorus deficient and nearly all swine manure in Manitoba is directly injected into the soil where it is quickly bound to soil particles.
As a pig farmer in this province, I know that we follow some of the most comprehensive environmental laws, rules and regulations that exist. The truth is that livestock farming in general, and hog farming in particular, is among the most strictly regulated and most watched industries in the province. A quick review of provincial laws and regulations governing livestock farming in Manitoba shows more than two dozen pieces of legislation and regulations, ranging from the Animal Care Act to the Water Rights Act.
When weighing credible information, readers would be wise to consider well documented recent and particularly relevant studies conducted right here in Manitoba that support the environmental sustainability of modern hog farming….
Surely the most important obligation of any Manitoban truly interested in the environment is to be objective and to consider the whole picture. As Manitoba’s minister of water stewardship has noted on many occasions, the nutrient challenge faced by the lake is the result of the actions of all people in the watershed and blaming any one group of people, any one economic sector or any one community is not only wrong, it is irresponsible and dangerous.
Manitoba’s pig farmers couldn’t agree more!
– Bryan Ferriss,
Vice-Chair,
Manitoba Pork Council,
Bowsman, Man.
Food safety
Browsing through a magazine in the doctor’s office, I happened on an article that caught my eye. Since I am recuperating from minor surgery and not permitted any strenuous activities, I wish to share my thoughts on this subject, since it seems to occupy so much time and effort in this day and age.
The article was specifically about food safety and described what I will say are the extremes some high-classed restaurants will go to in order to justify an upwards of $100 serving that an ordinary Joe would be hesitant to pay $6 for.
Among other things, this article quoted the dialogue a waiter in a New York restaurant had with his patrons regarding a certain entrŽe in his menu. This particular entrŽe was fish caught off the coast of Alaska. In great detail he described the methods used in catching and preparing for shipment of this fish.
In order to preserve the identity of the food served in this establishment and others of the same calibre, the fisherman’s name was recorded, the name of the boat, the company owning the fleet, and the methods used to kill the fish, if I may use the term.
The waiter also went on to say that this fish was stunned underwater to prevent some chemistry in the blood from adversely affecting the flavour of the meat. After bringing the fish to the surface, it was bled, gutted and massaged to help drain as much blood as possible. Also the temperature in the shipping container was recorded for identity preservation….
If this is identity preservation, please enlighten me.
Did the waiter or his patrons have a clue or even consider what this fish’s diet consisted of? Since our farmland is contaminated with harmful pollutants, how can we assume the waters in our oceans are still pristine and clean? If the Exxon Valdez had spilled her hold on our farmland, would we ever be able to raise any crops, and if we were, what would be our chances of being able to market any?
Let’s be realistic. Why are the producers of food off the land required to maintain such detailed records of their production methods when records of production for other staples such as seafood or wildfowl are obviously impossible to obtain. If seafood is healthy, well so is Canadian beef. Shall we have a vote?…
Shall I apologize for not painting a brighter picture? I will not. My advice though: eat healthy foods and if possible stay out of doctor’s offices.
– Fred Walter,
Biggar, Sask.
Third way
Alberta health minister Iris Evans said “three days of talks have produced ideas but no magic bullet.” Of course it failed.
The miscarriage of this conference proves again that the private sector cannot come up with anything better than our single-payer, publicly funded and publicly delivered health-care system.
Here is only one example why it failed. One of their speakers was Janice MacKinnon, who advocates a tax based on use and income. A tax on the sick?
This is unconscionable and coming from a former NDP cabinet minister yet. Who chooses to get sick? … Canadians want health care based on need and not on the ability to pay.
Roy Romanow in his Royal Commission report, “Building on Values,” found “no evidence to support a direct private sector role in delivering health-care services … not only on the evidence of delivery and outcomes and costs but on values … because health care is at the end of the day a moral enterprise involving all of us with our obligations to ourselves and each to each other and to the community.
“It is a moral enterprise and not a business venture and we should organize it on that basis.”
Nobody, not Ralph Klein, not Don Mazankowski, not Michael Kirby can or has disproved Romanow.
So, here we have $1.3 million spent once again to try to prove what cannot be proved. Yet the Ralph Kleins keep trying to make health into a commodity to be traded in the market place.
Mr. Romanow based his recommendations on what Canadians told him – health care should be based on need and not on the ability to pay. He also said “our public health-care system is sustainable but money must buy change.”
Romanow got it right.
– Jacquie Christenson,
Saskatoon, Sask.
GM pines
In reference to the excellent article on the pine beetle infestation in B.C. forests, I would like to add this: I wrote the B.C. Forest Service and suggested GM pine trees be developed using genes from spiders or snakes. The reply was immediate: thanks, but no thanks.
On further thought, one might use crocus or nightshade in the GM tree to kill the beetles. It would take years to develop a tree to seed cone bearing age but we have to start somewhere. The beetles have a long head start.
– Russ Overton,
Okanagan Falls, B.C.
BSE problems
I’m very concerned about the cattle business, as I have been a producer for a long time. My concerns are with the government and our agriculture ministers and the beef associations.
Our agriculture minister stood up (and) said the border was going to open on March 7, 2005. And what happened? R-CALF and one lawyer had a meeting at Billings, Montana, and closed the border and to this day the agriculture ministers and the beef associations have not done anything about it….
Government officials should have put a floor price on cattle two years ago and our beef association should have told them to do so.
I think maybe in the future, the farmers and ranchers should think about the next election coming up. And as for Mr. Klein’s and Mr. Harper’s comments about a massive cull, I would have to ask both of them if they have ever been at the end of a pitchfork.
As far as testing and tagging all these cattle, someone is going to have to pay for it and guess who it will be? The producer, in the end. And before the mad cow crisis, we were just getting by.
– Walter Brown,
Carlyle, Sask.
