Manitoba’s Agriculture Minister suggests a pilot project introduced last April offers the opportunity to build the barns required to meet the needs of the province’s processors for hogs while safeguarding the environment.
In April, 2015 the Manitoba government approved the “Pig Production Special Pilot Project Evaluation Protocol” a plan under which pork producers in Manitoba can apply for permits to build new or expand existing swine barns.
Ron Kostyshyn, Manitoba’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, who spoke to reporters yesterday as part of Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon, says in partnership with Manitoba Conservation and Manitoba’s hog producers, the pilot product calls for a two cell manure storage system in place of the anaerobic digester philosophy to deal with nitrogen and phosphorus in addition to other environmental safeguards.
With partnership with Manitoba hog producers and the Department of Conservations and other stakeholders there’s been some noticeable changes. That being that concentration levels have been reduced in order to apply and there’s always the buffer zone of applications in designated areas from waterways and opportunities. But I think the most significant one was the concentration level and the number of acres required to distribute the manure in appropriate fashion.
I think the other thing that was very significant, working with the Manitoba hog producers and the agronomists of the world that we do proper soil testing and we monitor the phosphorus and nitrogen levels, that we keep everything into sink where we to minimize the over saturation of the phosphorus and nitrogen level, in partnership with producers.
Kostyshyn says there is a recognition that environmental sustainability is possible and, in talking with Manitoba’s hog producers, there is an interest in building new barns under the pilot project.
He acknowledges the next challenge is attracting the investment required to build new barns.
