Big pig farms can respect laws, too, experts tell panel

The Montreal Gazette ^ | Wednesday, November 13, 2002 | MICHELLE LALONDE

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

State funding of pork producers in Quebec amounts to more than $400 million a year

Big factory pig farms can respect environmental laws as well as or better than small family farms, industry experts told a provincial commission holding public hearings into Quebec's pork industry.

A commission of the Bureau d'Audiences Publiques sur l'Environnement was recently in Montreal for its first series of public hearings on sustainable development of the pork industry.

Yvan Lacroix, who heads the province's largest association of grain and feed producers, told the commission that "pork integrators," big companies that are now producing about half of the province's pork, do not pose a threat to the family farm.

"Integrated farms and their associates do not represent an obstacle to the family farm; on the contrary, integration is to agriculture what franchising is to the restaurant business - a win-win arrangement," said Lacroix.

But question periods at last week's hearings were dominated by those who argue that factory pig farms are sucking up public money, poisoning the environment and closing down the family farm.

"We are spending phenomenal amounts of money on pork production every year," Gilles Tardif of the Citizens' Coalition said after quizzing Lacroix. "Each citizen pays $25 for each pig on the market and that is before you even get to the checkout counter. Most of it goes to integrators and that's why small farms are disappearing in Quebec."

State funding of pig farms in Quebec amounts to more than $400 million a year from provincial and federal loans and insurance programs, Claude Robitaille of the Financière Agricole du Québec said.

Integrators sometimes buy farms outright, but more often they rent the land and buildings from a farmer, pay the farmer for labour, but retain ownership of the pigs, and most of the profits at sale. Pig production has skyrocketed in Quebec since the provincial government decided to allow larger operations to qualify for government subsidies in 1988.

Lacroix said about 40 pork integrators own or are associated with about 1,000 farm projects across the province. Those projects produce about half of Quebec's pork every year. He estimated there are 2,000 independant pork farmers.

Public concerns about animal welfare and the impact of manure spreading on soil and water quality have prompted the Quebec government to call a moratorium on new pig farms and public hearings on the issue.

The commission returns to Montreal on Jan. 15. Visit www.bape.gouv.qc.ca.

Email: mlalonde@thegazette.southam.ca