Rules and regulations stacked upon each other as it pertains to building new hog barns in Manitoba to circumvent a horrendous moratorium that’s leaving the big Maple Leaf Foods plant in Brandon short of hogs every week are disgusting.
However, the organization that keeps fighting for itself, Manitoba Pork is still hopeful the first applications for permits to build new or expand existing hog barns under a new pilot project will come in this fall.
Those were the days… prior to the 1980s, farmers required almost no approvals from any level of government to start up a pig operation or build a barn in Manitoba. If a producer wanted to construct a barn and had the money, somewhat drew up the plans, simply went ahead and built it and started raising pigs. But times have changed.
However, since the 1980s, governments, RM’s, and individual homeowner groups, and pressure tactics have forced and encouraged governments  to implement and  adopt numerous laws and regulations, mostly by the provincial government, placing a number of regulatory requirements on farmers.
These regulations apply both before, during and after construction begins – including numerous laws applying to a pig farm throughout the life of its operation. Many of these regulations relate to manure storage, handling and application. Then if that isn’t enough, another whole layer of steps and regulations (11 to be exact) that building a new barn, or expanding production at an old site  in Manitoba becomes almost a Herculean effort, bound to discourage most wannabees.
In April the Manitoba government approved the ‘Pig Production Special Pilot Project Evaluation Protocol’ under which pork producers can apply to build new or expand existing swine barns.
Mike Teillet, the manager of sustainable development programs with Manitoba Pork says since almost no one has built barns in the last six or seven years in Manitoba, production keeps falling and the Maple Leaf plant in Brandon in particular is short of pigs so it’s critical to get those pig numbers back up.
Speaking at the Manitoba Pork producer meetings in Niverville, MB, Teillet says the list has always been long consisting  of regulatory requirements to construct a barn and certainly to operate a hog farm in Manitoba.
“Under the new protocol, the new pilot project, we agreed to a number of different things in order to allow barns to be built, that’s over and above the existing requirements,” he said. “They include new soil phosphorus limits of 60 parts per million, injecting manure or incorporating within 48 hours.”
Another strong regulation is that no one can build new barns in a couple of municipalities, that’s Hanover and La Broquerie, but there can be new barn construction and expansion west of the Red River. East of the Red River, other than those two municipalities, is allowed to expand but not build new. There are some other requirements but those are some of the major ones.
Teillet says since April people are inquiring, but, so far, no applications for permits but the expectation is that the first applications under the new protocol will come in this fall.
Anyone interested in building or expanding a hog barn under the protocol is encouraged to contact Manitoba Pork for more information.  •
— By Harry Siemens