Western Canadian hog producers were reminded last week that they are not the only ones facing opposition in their efforts to expand the pork industry.
In Iowa, which produces more hogs than any other U.S. state, there are almost weekly articles in major papers about groups opposing livestock developments, the Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium was told.
“Neighbors are preventing neighbors from expanding their businesses,” said agricultural consultant Gary Maas of Massena, Iowa, in a paper presented at the symposium.
Why?
In most cases, he suggested, it’s not because of anything like odor problems. He quoted one estimate that 85 percent of opposition to hog barns would remain even if there was a magic pill to eliminate all hog odor.
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“Envy and jealousy drive a major portion of the detractors,” he said, “it being human nature not to like operations that are larger than our own.”
If that assessment is true, it doesn’t say much for rural residents in Iowa. Envy is a common flaw everywhere, but for it to be the driving force behind rural opposition to a producer’s expansion would be regrettable.
Whether or not the characterization applies south of the border, hopefully it will not become a significant factor in Western Canada.
One advantage here is that many of the planned new hog projects have a broad community base, with local investors providing part of the capital.
In addition to any ownership benefits, rural areas on the Prairies would tend to see expanded hog production as a partial antidote to years of declining communities and services.
Developers of new hog plants have also presumably learned from some of the U.S. bad examples.
As the Iowa consultant said, not all opposition is caused by envy or animal rights groups – “we often cause our own problems.”
Maas said there have been some hog operations with odor or pollution problems – and some cases where a producer would build a new barn many times closer to a neighbor’s house than to his own house.
But by far the biggest mistake made by U.S. producers, he said, has been to expand “in isolation,” without making the effort to keep their local community informed: “When we don’t keep the community informed, the detractors will spread their twisted versions.”
In other words, livestock producers will always have detractors, even if it’s only the animal-rights zealots. But most people can be persuaded to be supportive, if producers and their organizations communicate effectively.
