| Hog Watch Manitoba News May 2003 |
| Index: Losses rock Alberta hog producers Alberta's hog producers are squealing in pain over the $78 million they've lost since last July. A new report confirms what Alberta pork producers have known for months — they're losing money with every hog they sell. Each week Alberta pork producers lose an average $2.16 million. Put another way, pork producers lose an average $41.65 for every animal they sell. Alberta's 1,800 hog producers sell 3.1 million hogs each year. "We felt this crisis was a pretty well kept secret," said Jack Moerman, vice-chair of Alberta Pork. It commissioned an analysis of the industry between July 15, 2002, and March 17, 2003, from Toma and Bouma Management Consultants, to highlight the difficulties Alberta pork producers were facing. "We felt if it was public knowledge we would have a better chance to impress upon government that existing programs weren't adequate," said Moerman. Perry Mohr, chief executive officer of the Manitoba Pork Marketing Co-op, said Manitoba producers are a little better off than their Alberta counterparts, but not much. He estimates producers are losing $20-$25 a hog, or about $1 million a week. Mohr said the single biggest difference between Manitoba and Alberta is that Manitoba producers have more available feed and don't need to pay the freight bill. Don Hrapchuk, general manager of Saskatchewan's SPI Marketing Group, said the same thing. He estimated Saskatchewan producers are losing $25 a hog, or $1 million on the 40,000 hogs sold each week. Hrapchuk believes feed prices are slightly better in Saskatchewan because the drought wasn't as widespread as in Alberta. He also pointed to the Saskatchewan government's short-term loan program that gives money to farmers in hard times and deducts it from their cheques during good times. Alberta hog producers have access to the Farm Income Disaster Program, but because pork prices hit rock bottom in the 1998-99 seasons, the average prices over the past five years are too low to trigger an adequate payout from the support program. "We hope the government will make an ad hoc disaster payment of some sort," said Moerman. He knows 20 producers who have decided to cut their losses and quit the business. Few producers can suffer sustained losses. Even the much publicized disaster in the hog industry in 1998 and 1999 is not as bad as the present low prices when combined with high feed costs, he said. Four years ago, the Alberta industry lost $65 million over nine months. Three years of drought have dramatically increased feed costs in 2003. During five of the 36 weeks in the analysis, returns per hog were not enough to cover feed costs. During the rest of the time, producers may have covered their feed but not other costs like labour or utilities. While few pork producers across the Prairies are having an easy time, Alberta producers are in a disaster class of their own, said Moerman. Alberta has the highest feed cost in North America and pork producers from other provinces have access to better support programs. Alberta does have disaster loan assistance programs, but Moerman questions the value of taking on more debt. "We need more loans like we need a hole in the head." He said Alberta Pork officials have scheduled a series of meetings with provincial agriculture officials over the next few weeks. The first choice for producers is some form of government ad hoc payment, next is changes to the disaster aid program to allow them to take the best three of the last seven years of income and the third would be an assistance programs like Saskatchewan's where there is less rigorous equity required. "The best scenario is a one-time ad hoc payment to help the drought-induced crisis," he said. If high prices continue,
it will affect feed companies and packing plants like Olymel in Red Deer,
he said. Factory Farms Grow New Roots in Developing World WASHINGTON, DC, April 22, 2003 (ENS) - Factory farms are expanding into developing countries, bringing these nations a wealth of environmental and public health concerns, finds a new paper by the Worldwatch Institute. And the environmental and health hazards of factory farms are only part of a global issue affected by increasing global meat consumption, tighter environmental standards in developing countries and international trade, according to Worldwatch Institute researcher Danielle Nierenberg. "Factory farming methods are creating a web of food safety, animal welfare, and environmental problems around the world, as large agribusinesses attempt to escape tighter environmental restrictions in the European Union and the U.S. by moving their animal production operations to less developed countries," said Nierenberg, author of "Factory Farming in the Developing World." In her paper, published in the May/June 2003 edition of "World Watch," Nierenberg notes that global meat production has increased more than five times since 1950 and factory farming is the fastest growing method of animal production worldwide. Feedlots are responsible for 43 percent of the world's beef, Nierenberg writes, and more than half the world's pork and poultry are raise in factory farms. Factory farms with
tens of thousands of pigs are sprouting up throughout the developing world.
(Photo courtesy Clean Water Network) Water pollution from animal waste runoff is a serious environmental and public health problem, as is the widespread use of antibiotics to speed up growth. Agricultural interests say these concerns are often overstated and that pollution runoff from factory farms can be - and is - often properly managed. But a growing number of individuals in the developed world, in particular the United States and Europe, are not convinced. With increasing pressure for stricter environmental standards and a shift away from factory farming, it is not surprising that meat producers are looking abroad for less oversight and cheaper production costs. Nor is it surprising that some developing nations are eager for economic boost factory farms appear to offer. Containing the manure
runoff from these large livestock operations is far from easy. (Photo
courtesy factoryfarm.org) And these operations, Nierenberg writes, threaten the survival of the nation's indigenous livestock and contribute to groundwater pollution, the spread of food-borne illnesses, and antibiotic resistance. Annual production of poultry has increased five times since 1980 in the Philippines, but most family farmers have been forced out of business or into adopting factory farming methods. The stock of native Filipino chickens has nearly been wiped out, Nierenberg reports. But the economic benefits of these businesses tempt many to look the other way when faced with the environmental and health consequences. The Philippines now houses Asia's largest pig rearing operation, producing some 100,000 hogs a year. Local water supplies near these hog farms have been polluted and local residents have "named the river where many of them bathe and get drinking water the River Stink," Nierenberg writes. Waste flows from factory
farms can present serious environmental and public health problems. (Photo
courtesy U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) The myriad of forces that have brought factory farms to the Philippines and to other developing nations will make this a difficult trend to reverse. International regulations on factory farming and improved zoning to minimize environmental impact can help, Nierenberg writes, but a much greater cultural and social shift is needed to stem the growing tide of factory farms. "Changing the
meat economy will require a rethinking of our relationship with livestock
and the price we are willing to pay for safe, sustainable, humanely-raised
food," Nierenberg says. "Preserving prosperous family farms
and their landscapes, and raising healthy, humanely treated animals, should
also be viewed as a form of affluence." Wowchuk
Announces Enhanced Soil Testing Awareness Initiative
By Curtis Brown Manitoba should work with its neighbours in Saskatchewan to make sure there will be enough water for Swan River residents after a hog barn is built near the provincial border, Rosann Wowchuk says. The provincial agricultural minister and Swan River MLA says she wants to make sure there's an open dialogue with Saskatchewan about addressing concerns related to a proposed five-barn hog operation just outside the province. Swan River residents are concerned about the 200 million litres of water Big Sky Park intends to use every year for its operation. "We have been in contact with the Saskatchewan government and we will be writing to the Saskatchewan government to ask them to address the concerns that are being raised at this time by the residents of the area," Wowchuk says. People in the area are worried about what impact the barns will have on the Swan River, which flows into Swan Lake and into the Lake Manitoba-Lake Winnipegosis system. RM of Swan River councillor Richard Barteski says he and some other residents have concerns about the project. "It's upstream from us," Barteski points out. "We're far enough away from it that the smell shouldn't affect us. But as long as things are done according to environmental controls, I have no issue with it." Swan River Mayor Glen McKenzie has fears the water quality and quantity will be affected in his town. "We want some assurance from the government that our water quality is not going to be affected," he told CBC. McKenzie suggested getting the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to look at the impact hog operations could have on residents. But Wowchuk feels that won't be necessary, saying the standards between Saskatchewan and Manitoba are fairly similar. "I think what we should be looking at is the amount of water that's required and raising with the Saskatchewan government the issue of the amount of water and working through it," she says. "That's something we can do and something we're working at now." Officials from DFO did not return phone calls Friday. Big Sky Farms president Florian Possberg was unavailable to comment as well, but said in an interview with the CBC that he would be glad to address the concerns of people in Swan River. cbrown@brandonsun.com PLEASE
DOWNLOAD THIS ATTACHED LETTER, SIGN IT
3rd Annual Sustainable Hog Farming Summit. On behalf of Waterkeeper
Alliance, the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Citizens
for Pennsylvania's Future, the White Dog Cafe Foundation, Animal Welfare
Institute, and GRACE, I would like to invite you to the 3rd Annual Sustainable
Hog Farming Summit.
The 14th doctor finally said he knew the source of the maladies: cesspools the size of football fields belonging to the industrial hog farm a half-mile from the Thornell home. "I never related it to the hogs at all," said Mr. Thornell, who is now 55. A growing number of scientists and public health officials around the country say they have traced a variety of health problems faced by neighbors of huge industrial farms to vast amounts of concentrated animal waste, which emit toxic gases while collecting in open-air cesspools or evaporating through sprays. The gases, hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, are poisonous. The waste is collected in pools because the concentration of hogs is so high that it must be treated before it can be used as fertilizer. Livestock trade officials and Bush administration regulators say more study is needed before any cause and effect can be proved. But Dr. Kaye H. Kilburn, a professor at the University of Southern California who studies the effects of toxic chemicals on the brain, said evidence strongly supported a link between the farms and the illnesses. In Iowa, one of the country's two biggest pork-producing states (North Carolina is the other), state environment officials started conducting air quality tests for hydrogen sulfide and ammonia at six neighborhood locations around hog farms last month. Brian Button, an air information specialist with the state, said preliminary data showed that 22 times in April, the gases exceeded the state's recommended air standards of 15 parts per billion of hydrogen sulfide and 150 parts per billion of ammonia, averaged over an hour. The highest level recorded for hydrogen sulfide was 70 parts per billion, a level that would have exceeded the air standards for at least six other states. Dr. Kilburn, who runs a business diagnosing neurological disorders, said that over the last three years he had seen about 50 patients, including Mr. Thornell and his wife, Diane, who had suffered neurological damage he judged to be a result of hydrogen sulfide poisoning from industrial farms. The Thornells are considering a lawsuit based on his work. "The coincidence of people showing a pattern of impairment and being exposed to hydrogen sulfide arising from lagoons where hog manure is stored and then sprayed on fields or sprayed into the air" makes a connection "practically undeniable," Dr. Kilburn said in an interview. Industrial farms often house thousands, if not tens of thousands, of hogs, which generate millions of gallons of waste each year. Runoff and water pollution have been the focus of many of the government and academic studies of such farms' environmental impact. In comparison, little has been done by federal or state environmental officials to monitor or limit air pollution from these farms. The Agriculture Department and the Environmental Protection Agency have formed a joint committee to look at farm air pollution. Around industrial hog farms across the country, people say their sickness rolls in with the wind. It brings headaches that do not go away and trips to the emergency room for children whose lungs suddenly close up. People young and old have become familiar with inhalers, nebulizers and oxygen tanks. They complain of diarrhea, nosebleeds, earaches and lung burns. Paul Isbell of Houston, Miss., started experiencing seizures after a hog farm moved in down the road. Jeremiah Burns of Hubbardston, Mich., now carries a six-pound oxygen tank with him. Kevin Pearson of Meservey, Iowa, carried a towel in his car because he vomited five or six times a week on his way to work. Julie Jansen's six children suffered flulike symptoms and diarrhea when farms moved into their neighborhood in Renville, Minn. One of Ms. Jansen's daughters was found by Dr. Kilburn to have neurological damage. She has problems with balance and has lost some feeling in her fingers. Public health officials have been cautious in drawing a clear link from hydrogen sulfide to neurological damage, though they say low-level exposure has been connected to fatigue, loss of appetite, headaches, poor memory, dizziness and other health problems. "In community exposures, when they are exposed to a mixture of chemicals — hydrogen sulfide included — there have been neurological effects reported as well," said Selene Chou, who manages the hydrogen sulfide toxicological profile for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a sister agency of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Based on what I see, there could be neurological effects, but we don't know at what low level of chronic exposure," Ms. Chou said. "That information is badly needed, because communities have experienced these effects." The agricultural industry, backed by some government officials, contends that these health effects are at best poorly documented. They say that scientific studies have relied too much on the testimony of the people with medical problems, and that there is no way to prove that those problems are directly attributable to the farms. "The health concern issues raised by the residents are totally unfounded," said Ron Prestage, an owner of Prestage Farms, the target of two suits filed by Mississippi residents. "There has never been a neighbor of a farm who has come forward with any documentation of a health problem of any kind." Ohio pork producers agree. "I do not think there is any way that it can be proven that that hog farm, which is a half-mile away, has any effect," said Dick Isler, the executive vice president of the Ohio Pork Producers Council, who said he knew about Mr. Thornell's case. Mr. Isler said studies showed that "any time you are more than a hundred feet away it is not a problem." Residents say they do not have difficulty proving that they are ill — their medications and oxygen tanks demonstrate that. They acknowledge that for many symptoms, the link to the farms is circumstantial. But in the most extreme cases, they say the evidence of a link is clear. Bush administration officials are negotiating with lobbyists for the large farms to establish voluntary monitoring of air pollution, which will give farm operators amnesty for any Clean Air Act violations while generating data that will enable regulators to track the type and source of pollutants more accurately. "We are negotiating with industry to work on capturing better information as to what emissions factors are in play," said J. P. Suarez, who is in charge of enforcement for the environmental agency. Growing layers of lawsuits, government reports and regulatory tussles on the state and federal levels are signs of increasing tensions. Some 1,800 residents of Mississippi have filed class-action lawsuits against factory farms, and the state health agency has put a moratorium on new ones. In response to citizen complaints, a few states, including Texas and Minnesota, have set pollution standards aimed at the farms. Iowa's state environmental agency recently announced that it would institute new pollution regulations affecting the farms. But the state legislature, under industry pressure, nullified those regulations last week, saying they were overreaching. State and federal efforts to regulate the water pollution from factory farms may actually cause the farms to divert chemicals into the air, the National Academy of Sciences says. Farms have adopted the practice of spraying liquid manure into the air when cesspool levels get too high, a practice that creates mists that are easily carried by the wind. When Mr. Thornell first became ill, he said, he thought he had suffered a nervous breakdown. Unable to go back to work as a schoolteacher, he retired on disability at 53. For two years, he had no idea what was happening. Then he learned about Dr. Kilburn's research while watching television. He sent an e-mail message to Dr. Kilburn, who told him to come to Pasadena for a diagnosis. The Thornells, who had never been to California, drove all the way, with a stop at the Grand Canyon. The diagnosis for both Mr. Thornell and his wife was irreversible brain injuries from the hydrogen sulfide gas. Mrs. Thornell said her husband had lost his energetic smile. Now he speaks slowly and often loses his train of thought. He does not drive far from the house by himself, because he often gets lost. "It's like I have a 2.1 gigahertz body with a 75 megahertz mind," Mr. Thornell said. "I feel like collateral damage." Mrs. Thornell added, "It's the price we pay for cheap food." Over the last 20 years, the industrialization of agriculture, especially the emergence of large-scale livestock farms, has raised concerns about pollution in rural areas. "It is no longer the mom-and-pop operation it used to be," said Viney Aneja, a professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences at North Carolina State University who has studied factory farms' air pollution. "This is a factory. Treat it as one. It should be under the same constraints as a chemical operation." Some former government employees said industry pressure had limited their ability to study and combat the problem. Former Environmental Protection Agency prosecutors said they started looking at air pollution from factory farms in 1998, but political appointees issued a directive in early 2002 that effectively stymied new cases. "You had decisions about enforcement that were being made on the political level without any input from the enforcement," said Michele Merkel, a prosecutor who resigned from the agency in protest. Eric Schaeffer, the former director of civil enforcement at the environmental agency, said Agriculture Department officials tried to exert influence to protect the industrial farms. "They essentially wanted veto power," he said. Lisa Harrison, a spokeswoman for the environmental agency, said, "Given the sensitivity of air emissions issues, headquarters is directly involved in the decision-making process." She said enforcement decisions were made within the agency, and enforcement was continuing. At the Agriculture Department, officials have reclassified research topics relating to industrial farms and health, including antibiotic-resistant pathogens, as "sensitive." As a result, at least one scientist, James Zahn, has left the department. "It was a choke hold on objective research," said Dr. Zahn, who had studied swine and bacteria until he left last fall. "Originally we were praised for the work we were doing. All of a sudden we were told, no more antibiotic resistance work." Internal department e-mail messages made available by the Natural Resources News Service show that Dr. Zahn's superiors barred him from presenting research at a conference in Iowa in 2002. A message from a supervisor advised Dr. Zahn that "politically sensitive and controversial issues require discretion." Julie Quick, an Agriculture Department spokeswoman, said that Dr. Zahn was discouraged from speaking about his research because he is not an expert on how the compounds in swine manure affect human health. Disputes within regulatory agencies seem distant concerns to the Thornells, who have been advised by Dr. Kilburn to move out of their home. Their neurological damage is irreversible, but they can prevent it from getting worse, he told them. "If I could sell the house, I would move in a second, but I don't know where to go," Mr. Thornell said. "I've lived here for 44 years. This is home to me." Copyright 2003 The
New York Times Company Human
life and hog waste In the midst of the
floor debate over the death penalty moratorium last week, state Senate
Minority Leader and would-be gubernatorial candidate Patrick Ballantine
spoke against a hold on executions. A moratorium, Ballantine argued, would
end up like the time-out on new hog farms in North Carolina, now in its
sixth year and on track for another five. Once a moratorium is in place,
he explained, it's hard to get it lifted. There's another significant
difference, one that reflects on those casting the votes. The Senate vote
to impose a moratorium on the death penalty was a rare display of leadership
from a body that ordinarily takes the path of no resistance on controversial
issues. The recent vote by the General Assembly to extend the hog farm
moratorium, while arguably useful, ignored a pressing emergency and essentially
passed the buck. But, to his credit, Basnight admitted that he'd changed his tune after a sleepless night. A lifelong supporter of the death penalty, the Manteo power broker said that he had been swayed by the evidence and could not accept the possibility that an innocent person might be executed under his watch. Though perhaps the most unexpected, Basnight's conversion statement was not the only gutsy one of the session. Fayetteville executive Larry Shaw noted that he'd won office on a pro-execution platform but changed his mind after getting to know a death-row inmate who was executed despite troubling questions about his case. David Hoyle of Gastonia compared North Carolina's capital punishment system to a lottery. Charlotte's Dan Clodfelter admitted that his constituents had moved him away from opposition to a moratorium after two years of ongoing education. Republican Fletcher Hartsell, who brought up yet another flawed example of the death penalty's administration, led a split of six GOP senators from their traditional party line. And Majority Leader Tony Rand, whose strong support helped tip the balance, made impassioned speeches favoring the measure and pointedly rebutted the arguments of moratorium opponents, at one point shouting down an attempt by Burlington Republican Hugh Webster to seize the floor. The facts certainly favored moratorium, especially the fresh revelations about Alan Gell and Jerry Hamilton, who both won new trials after judges recognized their strong innocence claims coupled with prosecutorial misconduct. In conjunction with clear evidence of racial discrimination, incompetent lawyers, excessive cost, random application and other systemic shortcomings, a moratorium didn't seem like a huge leap. But that doesn't make support for the moratorium bill any less politically risky in a state where the majority of citizens still favor the death penalty in principle. Any sign of softness on crime has traditionally been exploited come election time, and it's a safe bet that the next election cycle will see plenty of ad hominem attacks from the likes of Ballantine and Charlotte Republican Bob Rucho, whose defense of the status quo from the Senate floor was perhaps the most rabid. Voting yes was not the easy thing to do. But vote yes the senators did, 29 of them. Contrast that action with the way the legislature has once again handled its sacred hogs. Shortly before its death-penalty vote, the Senate extended a moratorium on new or expanded hog farms (as with the moratorium on executions, the measure now moves to the House). During that debate, none of the senators stood tall and talked about how their hearts and minds had been changed by the facts. Thirty-nine of them sponsored the bill, which passed unanimously. None of those votes will be spotlighted in campaign attack ads.
But at the precise moment when the votes were counted, Eastern North Carolina was assessing damage from the worst round of hog-farm pollution since Hurricane Floyd. Heavy spring rains filled lagoons to the brink (in violation of their permits) and forced farmers to illegally spray waste onto their saturated fields. Runoff from wet fields flows into tributaries and then rivers like the Neuse, damaging aquatic life and posing threats to human health. For several weeks, hog farm watchdog Rick Dove had been flying over hog farms in planes flown by volunteer pilots, photographing the wholesale dumping of waste. He had then been sending his evidence to the state Division of Water Quality and writing letters to legislators practically begging for action to force a stop to the pollution. Some of the responses were hostile: "Eat more pork!! It's good for you and the economy of North Carolina!" suggested Iredell County Rep and hog booster Frank Mitchell. Most others were blandly reassuring but failed to address the crisis at hand. Basnight aide Chris Dillon wrote that Dove's complaints were being investigated. "Our office has a steadfast history of supporting the protection of our water resources," Dillon stated. "We firmly believe that any alleged violations should be investigated extensively and prosecuted to the letter of the law." Dillon and his boss realize, however, that the state's ability to investigate and prosecute violators has been crippled by budget cuts, not that it was ever a priority for regulators more concerned with issuing permits than enforcing them. The Fayetteville regional office, set in the heart of hog country, has only three people doing inspections, and two of those will be gone by the end of June. Complaints from citizens like Dove take days or weeks to check, often well after the water levels have subsided. In a recent letter, Division of Water Quality chief Alan Klimek acknowledged that his agency was short on manpower. "We do not have the resources to visit each site during this wet spring to verify the situation at each operation," Klimek wrote. Even when the state does catch violators, the punishments seldom amount to more than wrist slaps, inflicting winks and smiles more often than pain. Regulators have the authority to do more, Nowlin says, but "that is not an authority the state has ever been willing to use." Nowlin, Dove and others concerned about the effects of hog pollution want the ban on new hog lagoons and sprayfields to become permanent, with existing ones phased out over time. They want the legislature to give the Division of Water Quality the resources and teeth to enforce existing regulations. The moratorium extension, they say, fails to do more than hold the line, and that line is in the wrong place. "The moratorium [and other initiatives] have done nothing to put an end to this madness," says Dove. "The public may believe the problem is solved/being solved, but nothing could be further from the truth." State Rep. Paul Luebke has introduced a permanent moratorium bill, and meager enforcement legislation is also pending. But both are destined to be killed, because ties to the hog industry in Eastern North Carolina--and the General Assembly--are old and deep. For Basnight senior aide Rolf Blizzard, it's all in the family--his father owns a hog farm, and his wife is employed by the North Carolina Pork Council, an industry trade association (though Blizzard claims this has no bearing on his impartial consideration of the issues). Hog giant Smithfield Foods and its web of subsidiaries and contract farmers freely wield their considerable political clout. Former legislative kingpin and hog farmer Wendell Murphy, who is still active in the halls of power, sold his hog operations to Smithfield in 2000 and now sits on the company's board. The 29 senators who stepped forward and voted their consciences on the death penalty dropped a lot of jaws in the process, giving hope to the novel idea that North Carolina's leaders can provide actual leadership. But the General Assembly's typical, business-as-usual wallowing in its hog mess may provide a truer measure of their courage. Burtman can be reached
at burtman@indyweek.com. Green
groups oppose exemption for US factory farms "We oppose any and all efforts to remove CAFOS (concentrated animal feeding operations) from the Clean Air Act's permit programs and to grant 'safe harbor' to CAFOS for violations of federal law," the groups said in a letter to assistant EPA administrator Jeffrey Holmstead. According to the groups, meat industry groups have proposed a plan to EPA in which large feedlots would agree to fund a program to collect data on air emissions from their operations in exchange for shelter from a number of air pollution rules. State and local air pollution officials said the exemption under discussion was too broad and might excuse the industry from having to take new steps to control emissions. They also said EPA was considering a ruling that emissions from livestock barns and manure lagoons were "fugitive" emissions not covered by air pollution laws. The environmental groups said CAFOs, which can hold 1,000 head of cattle, 2,500 hogs or 30,000 chickens, "present a widespread, severe air quality problem, both to neighboring residents and impacted airsheds." Signing the letter were Association of Irritated Residents, Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment, Environmental Defense, Environmental Integrity Project, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Sierra Club. Late last year, the Bush administration issued rules that require 15,500 CAFOs to control manure runoff that causes water pollution. The cost of those rules was estimated at $335 million a year. Story Date: 7/5/2003
Dispose
of the waste proble On April 24 we were all greeted with the same weather forecast. Clear on Thursday followed by heavy rains on Friday and Friday night. Accumulation was expected to be between 1 and 2 inches for nearly all regions. With that in mind, I took to the sky to observe what might be happening along North Carolina's rivers. I was pleased to observe that not one crop farmer was applying fertilizer to the fields. This was not surprising because crop farmers handle nutrients as something of value. It would be a waste of their time and money to apply fertilizer to a field knowing that within 24 hours heavy rains would wash it away to the river. Unfortunately, more than 50 percent of the industrial hog producers I observed were spraying animal waste, which in addition to nutrients contains many toxins and dangerous pathogens. This spraying was in disregard of the weather forecast and their waste management plans. Much of this waste was being applied near ditches and streams in a manner that made its discharge to the river imminent during the coming rain. The difference between the two applications is easy to understand. Crop farmers see fertilizer as something of value. Wasting it would be costly. On the other hand, as admitted by many industrial animal producers, hog waste is something that producers have to deal with. In other words, get rid of. When lagoons fill up, this waste is dumped onto fields under the pretext of growing crops. Over the past 10 years I have seen this time and time again - spraying onto saturated fields, spraying before, during and after rain events, intentional discharges to surface waters, spraying onto frozen fields, spraying into strong winds that mist the toxic hog waste into the air causing it to enter the noses and lungs of neighbors. These things are not the exception, they are the rule whenever rainfall exceeds the average (half the time). In response to criticism, some industrial hog producers are attempting to defend the lagoon and sprayfield system, and themselves, by contending that only a small number of producers, about 10 percent, are causing the problems. They also contend that the lagoon and sprayfield system works just fine when properly managed. There is no basis for any of this - it is "make-believe." State officials have no way of properly estimating the number of violations. Officials at all levels have openly admitted that they do not have the resources to enforce the environmental laws and regulations, especially as they pertain to industrial hog polluters. The 10 percent referred to only reflects those who got caught. During flights I have made over the past 45 days, I have observed well over half of the hog producers in violation of the law. Often, there were so many violators I did not have the time or resources to document the violations. The problem is not in management of the system. The problem is that the system is broken, hopelessly broken. If we were dealing with a few hundred cesspools, the problem might be manageable. But when you have 10 million hogs producing the same amount of fecal matter as is produced on a daily basis by all the citizens of North Carolina, Texas, California, New York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and North Dakota, it's more than a management problem - it's a disaster. The General Assembly, as well as the current and past governor, have all committed to getting rid of lagoons and sprayfields. For the sake of North Carolina and its citizens, we cannot allow them to deviate from this required objective. Everything depends on it and time is of the essence. Two things must happen to solve this problem. This year the state must legislate a permanent ban, not a moratorium, on the new construction or expansion of lagoons. Next, it must set a specific date, such as Jan. 1, 2007, after which it will be illegal to operate a lagoon (cesspool) and sprayfield system for animal production in North Carolina. The technology to replace this failed system already exists. It is a wastewater treatment plant. It is expensive. If the hog industry cannot afford to pay the full cost of properly treating the toxic waste it generates each day, then it should not be allowed to operate in North Carolina. The cost is too high. That's the plain economic truth. Rick Dove is the Southeastern
representative for the Waterkeeper Alliance. Some of Dove's photos can
be seen at the alliance's Web site: www.waterkeeper.org/PBK/hog_campaign.doc. Pig stink plays key role in Liberal leader's riding KENT COUNTY - The politics of pig manure will be high on the campaign agenda in Kent County during the next four weeks. That riding is home to one of the biggest pig farms in the province – a factory farm operation that many nearby residents don't want. They say the Metz Farm smells bad, they believe it has the potential to pollute their wells, and have waged a three-year-battle to shut it down. The tomato-red bus pulls into the first campaign stop for Liberal leader Shawn Graham in the riding of Kent. His supporters are wearing red ties, sweaters and scarves. This is one of the safest Liberal ridings in the province, where they have won every election except one since 1935. But up the road, NDP candidate Jerry Cook wants to upset that Liberal tradition. Cook is a tax expert in Richibouctou. He's also a key player and spokesperson for the many people who are furious about the smell and potential for pollution from the pig farm in nearby Ste. Marie de Kent. They want the farm and its 10,000 pigs shut down. Something the Liberals and Conservatives refuse to do.
But Graham, whose campaign
on rural issues supports the farm industry, and who has refused to sign
petitions demanding the Metz farm be closed, won't take the bait. But Cook says he'd like to discuss all sorts of issues with Graham, not just the pig farm. "We will see election day I think people are assuming I'm not know for anything else but pigs, but over the years I've done business with clients all over and I've done theatre to attract people so I'm not just a pig candidate." But what are Cook's chances of taking the riding? The wall on his office is covered with plaques and momentos that testify to his connection with many groups in the riding. And while the NDP only picked up 400 votes in this riding last time, Cook says that's not the whole story. He says remember Angela Vautour
who once won the encompassing federal riding for the NDP. He adds activist
Millie Augustine also pulled in 1,400 votes for the NDP. He's also banking
on those who live in other ridings and down wind from the pig farm to
come and help him out. Factory-style corporate agriculture banned in Nebraska By Brad Redlin It's called "1-300" in Nebraska, and pretty much everywhere else in the states. In 20 years of holding the lead post in opposing corporate ownership, and suffering the most scathing derision of American agri-business, 1-300 is certainly celebrated. The name comes from the citizen-sponsored Initiative 300 to the Nebraska state constitution. And it was upon the collection of some 60,000 signatures that 1-300 made it onto the state's election ballot in 1982. It passed easily and the tradition of family farmers and ranchers staking a just claim to their independence was continued. 1-300 makes it illegal for corporations to control farming within Nebraska by requiring all land and livestock be owned by individual farmers, though they may utilize structures like cooperatives or family corporations. Its language was the model of the ban enacted and then later defended that night in South Dakota. And it remains in effect to this day - though under virtually constant attack from more powerful, more politically connected and vastly more wealthy corporate interests. To date, the people's belief that 1-300 benefits them has been steadfast. The past 20 years provide the proof. Nebraska has increased its national share of cattle on feed from 15.6 percent to 17.1 percent. But unlike other cattle feeding states, more cattle feeding in Nebraska is controlled by farmer feeders. In Nebraska, 42 percent of cattle are fed in lots of less than 8,000 head, versus 28 percent nationally. In Nebraska 64 percent are fed in lots of less than 16,000 head, versus 39 percent nationally. Since 1982 Nebraska has increased its share of the nation's hog producers from 3.33 percent to 4.2 percent, even as the nation has lost 83 percent of its producers. With 1-300 in place, Nebraska produces more pounds of livestock and feeds more corn to livestock than any state in the union. But the positive impact 1-300 has had on the state can be seen in more than just agricultural statistics. Even putting aside the benefits that our agricultural industry has realized from 1-300, the initiative is still vitally important for its perhaps more crucial impact on Nebraskans' quality of life. What does banning factory-style corporate agriculture mean to a state's citizens? Researchers at Clarkson University and Cornell University published a 20 year study that compared the "agriculturally dependent counties," within the nine states nationwide that have anti-corporate farming laws to counties in states without such laws. The results were clear: communities in states with anti-corporate farming laws have lower poverty levels, lower unemployment, and higher percentage of farms showing cash gains. Additionally, when examining only the nine states, and comparing those with more restrictive laws to those with less, communities in the more-restrictive law state have lower unemployment and a higher percentage of farms with cash gains. A 2000 study from Illinois State University on the economic impacts of large hog farms says, "the several models developed here consistently suggest that large hog farms tend to hinder economic growth in rural communities" and that economic growth rates were in fact higher in communities where traditional family farm hog production was dominant. The Rural Development Institute (University of Wisconsin at River Falls) found that moderate-sized farms spend 75 percent locally. Its research further determined that one moderate-sized farm of $200,000 gross income is worth $720,000 to the community, and was equal to the impact of 8.3 households with $40,000 incomes. Virginia Tech University research found that family livestock farmers make 70 percent of purchases within 20 miles of their farms; the figure for corporate farms is 40 percent. The facts demonstrate the reality that citizens, communities and states do best when agricultural production is controlled by local farm and ranch families, and the more of them the better. Yet with each new legislative session and in courtrooms all over the country, the attacks continue. Unfortunately, we have seen that legislators, constitutional office-holders, producer organizations, development agencies and any other number of entities can succumb to corporate influence.However, there is more to be gleaned from my Nebraska and South Dakota experience than just the fact that factory farming interests are relentless in their effort to control agriculture. The victory in South Dakota that night last June demonstrates the ultimate importance of the individual. Given the right to exercise free choice, it is the people that choose true economic and environmental health over corporate extraction-model short term profiteering every time. Initiative 300 is not, and was never intended to be, the answer for all of rural life's challenges. But it does show that there can exist a level playing field, requiring all owners of agricultural entities be liable for their actions and responsible to their communities. And we must never give up that. Brad Redlin is outreach
director at the Center for Rural Affairs in Walthill, Nebraska. Established
in 1973, it is a private, non-profit organization working to strengthen
small businesses, family farms and ranches, and rural communities through
action oriented programs addressing social, economic and environmental
issues. Brad is a native of Sidney, Montana where his family remains and
continues to operate the farm he was raised on. Milk Factory in Mojave Desert ill-advised Pusville, California
Liquid
Hog Manure generates Power SASKATOON - Liquid hog manure could become a new source of electricity for Saskatchewan. A Saskatoon-based company has just teamed up with a hog producer and SaskPower for a two-year demonstration project that is aimed environmentally friendly power. "We heat it up, we digest it, turn it into methane," he says. "The methane is then given to SaskPower, SaskPower turns it into energy." The methane will power four microturbines which will generate enough electricity to power about 30 homes. Voss says the technology may be foreign to Saskatchewan, but it's becoming a familiar sight in Asia and Europe. He says there is potential to use waste from the food processing industry and municipal landfills in the same way. The project could also help Saskatchewan meet targets under the Kyoto protocol for producing cleaner energy. SaskPower says this is just one example of its attempt to generate more green power. The government seems to prefer options like biogas and wind power over other alternatives like nuclear power. Crown investments minister Maynard Sonntag says that's because there are drawbacks to going nuclear. "If it were just based on environmental I think there's some pretty sound arguments," he says, "but there is the huge, huge capital cost for the construction of a generation site." Sonntag says there would have to be a major, long-term customer, one he doesn't see right now. A call for more alternative
power generation proposals is planned for later this year.
Regina
group prevents 5,000 hog operation REGINA - People from eight rural areas came to Regina on Wednesday to raise concerns about industrial hog barns. Opponents are worried that large hog operations will harm their drinking water, discourage tourism, and affect wildlife. "If this continues, there will be a few big industrial farms in Saskatchewan and there won't be any people left out there. I know it sounds radical but I think we have to put the brakes on and we have to turn back and go the opposite way." Some came from areas where barns have been built. They say the barns cause environmental damage and ruin attempts to promote tourism. Valerie Entz is from Churchbridge, where another large hog farm is being proposed. "I mean we just have to look into Manitoba and into the United States. What has happened there? Their water is polluted and it won't be drinkable and our air will not be breathable. I mean, can we not learn from other people's mistakes? And my question to the government is why are we pushing these, why do we have to get these barns in here now?" The group raised their
concerns with the ministers of agriculture and the environment.
News
from North Carolina
Hog Watch Manitoba calls on provincial party leaders to endorse these 5 promises... Back in the year 2000, when
Hog Watch Manitoba was formed, we asked the NDP Our original 5-point
plan included:
"Interesting enough, right
now, the NDP government has the opportunity to
Premier
debates candidate Bill Harrison, NDP candidate in Carman, accosted Doer outside the Centre Culturel Franco Manitoban in St. Boniface moments after Doer left a campaign rally for about 1,000 party faithful in an event that featured Manitoba country superstars Doc Walker. Harrison, sporting a Hogwatch button on his T-shirt, stopped Doer to lecture him about the NDP government's failure to rein in commercial hog operations. Harrison told Doer he feared the NDP cabinet was too close to big hog producers and was not challenging the industry to impose tighter environmental controls. "Gary, you've got to do something," he told the premier. "Communities are being torn apart by this." Doer did not walk away from Harrison during the conversation and the two parted on amicable terms. Doer told Harrison he had to respect the decision of municipal leaders who ultimately had the final say over hog operation expansion. "We have this
debate at our conventions every year," Doer said. "I figure
if you can't defend your position to someone in your own party, you can't
defend it to anybody."
© 2003 Winnipeg Free Press, May 28, 2003 Dear Editor: As a ratepayer in
the R. M. of Daly, I was struck by the Premier's
Residents
plan hog farm fight Residents near a controversial
hog farm in Sarsfield should consider suing The idea is the brainchild
of a U.S. economist who was instrumental in Bill Weida, an emeritus professor
at Colorado College, was in Ottawa The conference took place as
a legal battle wages over whether the city has Mr. Weida told about 100 farmers
and concerned residents that under U.S. and "These practices are trespasses
because they cause loss of value in Conference delegates also heard
how communities across North America are Last year, Mr. Weida was invited
to address Ottawa council about the His testimony prompted council
to revoke the farm's building permit. While Meanwhile, Marc Lafleur, whose
family-run dairy backs onto the hog farm, "We don't like to sit
and wait until the hog farm is a reality, but the way The idea also has the support
of Cumberland Councillor Phil McNeely, a vocal © Copyright 2003
The Ottawa Citizen Chief health officer to recommend measures to help protect Sarsfield residents against hog farms By Fred Sherwin, Orléans
Online , May 25, 2003 Sarsfield residents fearful
that a planned hog factory in their midst will Orleans Online has learned
Dr. Robert Cushman plans to recommend the city Cumberland Ward Coun. Phil
McNeely hinted about what’s in the Cushman Report “It’s not official,
but it should give the residents of Sarsfield some peace The hog factory’s Quebec-based
owners recently won an Ontario Superior Court An application filed by the
city to appeal that decision is currently before “There’s enough
information out there about the damage these types of The only sticking point to
getting Dr. Cushman’s recommendations turned into “It could be a problem
for some of my colleagues, but council has supported During Saturday’s conference,
about 80 participants from across Ontario Dr. Bill Weida, who is the
director of the GRACE Factory Farm Project, “What the studies have
shown is that economic growth drops by an average of Using information garnered
his own research, medical anthropologist Kendall North Carolina-based public
health expert Dr. Melva Okun discussed the But perhaps the most pertinent
message of the conference was delivered by Taite warned the audience not
accept assurances from the various levels of “We were told in Manitoba
don’t worry what happened in North Carolina won’t One of the people sitting in
the audience listening to Taite’s presentation “These things are bad
for everybody. They’re bad for the local economy, Organizer Rudi Verspoor said
one of the main reasons for holding the “The issue’s
not going to go away,” promised Verspoor. That was the prevailing message during yesterday's Pigs, Poop, People and Politics conference which drew some 80 concerned rural residents from across Ontario. Sponsored by the Sarsfield-inspired citizens group Protect Our Rural Communities (PORC), activists from Walkerton, Haldimand and London, as well as from neighbouring Hawkesbury and South Nation, descended on city hall to unify their lobbying efforts and learn more about the problems associated with such factory farms. "We really found this is not just a local issue -- that this is a provincial, national and international issue," said PORC vice-president Rudi Verspoor. Participants, he added, would be meeting after the conference to create a coalition to better pressure the Ontario government to act on a moratorium on new hog farms, the creation of a water protection act and the possibility of waste treatment facilities for hog farms. Sporting anti-mega pig farm buttons and trailing stuffed pig ornaments from purses and clipboards, participants sat wide-eyed through several hours of lectures from experts who told of the devastation caused by intensive hog operations in the U.S., Manitoba and Quebec. Fred Tait, a farmer and member of Hog Watch Manitoba, received a standing ovation for his impassioned speech about the "corporate takeover" of agriculture and the erosion of democracy in his province, where the government tends to side with mega hog farms despite environmental concerns. 'DON'T BE WORRIED' "We've been told in Manitoba ... don't be worried, we're not going to make the same mistakes here as were made in North Carolina," he said, urging participants not to be fooled by governments that suggest a different climate means fewer worries or that professes to have more stringent laws. He added, "a picture is worth a thousand words," showing aerial photos of slick manure-flooded crops and fields burned by the high nitrogen content of pig manure. Medical anthropologist Kendall Thu spoke of the harmful physical and mental health effects of living near or working on large pig farms, while North Carolina-based public health expert Dr. Melva Okun discussed the dangers associated with antibiotics commonly pumped through pigs to keep them healthy and make them grow quicker. Participants were
urged to be responsible consumers and choose products not derived from
factory farm operations and to continue lobbying their governments for
change.
Cumberland Councillor Phil McNeely says Dr. Robert Cushman, the City’s Chief Medical Officer of Health has learned that hog manure lagoons, like the one planned for Sarsfield, are perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes that carry the West Nile Virus. “Not only are they ideal for breeding, none of the preventative treatments work,” says McNeely Information from the American Mosquito Control Association shows that open liquid manure sites are classic breeding grounds for Culex mosquitoes, due to liquidity and high organic load and that the larvacides Bti and Methoprene won't work. “Putting a very fine mesh over the lagoons so hatched mosquitoes can’t fly out is, a not very practical, possible solution but not having the lagoons near where people live is the safest and best option says McNeely” The councilor will give the opening address tomorrow at the Pigs, Poop, People, and Politics Ontario Conference being held at Ottawa City Hall. Registration for the daylong event, in the Council Chambers at 110 Laurier Ave. West, begins at 8am. The cost to attend is $30.
Hog factory forces businessman to change plans To the editor; My wife and I have been forced to cancel a re-zoning application of a property near Sarsfield as a direct result of the hog factory nearby. We cannot consider going ahead with the planned initial investment of over $1.5 million (with an additional $5 million planned over the next 5-10 years) for an organic demonstration farm, center for the natural healing arts and nature retreat in the face of the very real threat to the air, water and general quality of life that was the very reason that we chose this beautiful location over two years ago. The problem is not the rural nature of the location; that is what we wanted. The problem is not the surrounding agricultural activities; that we feel is an integral and welcome part of the rural scene. The problem is the industrial use, through intensive livestock operations, of agricultural land that is being allowed and indeed promoted by current provincial policies, or lack thereof. We have done our research carefully and it confirms that industrial hog operations eventually destroy the land, air, water and social fabric of the rural communities where they are allowed to operate. This is the history across Europe and North America. Quebec has seen the most recent results of this devastation. We find it hard to understand that the current bureaucrats and politicians running the provincial government think that they can somehow avoid what every other jurisdiction has suffered. We appreciate the efforts that the City of Ottawa has taken to date to restrict such hog operations within city limits for health, safety and environmental reasons despite being effectively “hog-tied” by provincial policies at every step of the way. We encourage the Mayor and other members of Council to continue to fight these operations so that the damage does not spread. Against our wishes, however, we are now forced to consider investment in another location that will not present the risk of being exposed to intensive hog operations. This is a loss to the villages of Sarsfield and Cumberland and surrounding residents that we regret, but cannot avoid due to short-sighted provincial policies. Rudi Verspoor, Petition read into Legislature HOG INDUSTRY Mr Jean-Marc Lalonde (Glengarry-Prescott-Russell): I have a petition that came from Kelly Leblanc and concerned citizens of the Fournier area. "To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario: "We, as citizens of Glengarry, Prescott-Russell, are opposing the industrial hog factories planned for the area within the nation municipality, of Pendleton, Ste-Rose-de-Prescott and St Albert; "Whereas similar hog factories are not permitted in Quebec; "Whereas farms are an essential component of our rural communities and must be protected; "Whereas establishment of mega hog factories is incompatible with the preservation of our rural communities and our quality of life in Glengarry and the United Counties of Prescott and Russell and surrounding areas; "Whereas establishment of mega hog factories is also incompatible with the protection of farms; "Whereas Ontario is still addressing environmental laws and health issues associated with industrial hog factories and the spraying of pig manure; "Whereas the South Nation River water pollution concerns are not yet resolved; "Whereas an environmental assessment of aquifer and groundwater have not been done; "Whereas local residents rely on wells or the water from the South Nation River situated along the proposed hog factory in Pendleton; "Whereas waste/sewage from pigs potentially endanger the water supply and soil; "We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows: "To ensure the safety of the citizens of Glengarry and the United Counties of Prescott and Russell will be protected against the known dangers associated with industrial hog factories. We petition you to immediately, before construction of farms in Pendleton, Ste-Rose-de-Prescott and St Albert, conduct an environmental study of the area to ensure there will be no detrimental effects to our health, our safety and our properties as a result of the construction of the proposed industrial hog factories." "I also add my signature to the petition." Last updated: May 30, 2003 |