Manitoba’s Minster of Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives says the provincial government is committed to working with the pork industry to ensure the province’s pork processors have access to adequate supplies of hogs while also protecting the environment.
Maple Leaf Foods in Brandon and Hylife Foods in Neepawa have expressed concern over the impact new restrictions on hog production contained in the “Save Lake Winnipeg Act” could have on their ability to source the numbers of hogs necessary to maintain capacity at their hog slaughtering plants.
Manitoba Agriculture Minister Stan Struthers is confident we can grow the agricultural economy in a long term stable way but, he stresses, part of that is to protect water along with making good economic decisions.
The very basic point is that farmers need to have an environmental plan in mind as they move forward and we’ve had some very good success with our department working with farmers on environmental farm plans and putting some thought into how we handle the manure that is produced.
This is manure it’s not nuclear waste and if it’s applied properly it’s fertilizer and is a real asset to the farmer.
If it’s not applied properly then it becomes a problem so we need to work with farmers, we need to work with the industry to make sure that in areas where there’s sensitive land or where there’s proximity to rivers and streams and lakes that we make good environmental decisions.
My contention is if we make good environmental decisions that that translates into good economic outcomes as well.
Struthers says the province wants to make sure Manitoba’s pork processors have access to the hogs they need and government is open to working with Maple Leaf and Hylife.
He notes he’s been meeting with representatives of Manitoba Pork to make sure everybody understands the impact of Bill 46 and that we move forward in such a way that we don’t jeopardize these kinds of economic opportunities.
