Manitoba Pork Welcomes Changes To Environment Act

Mar 20, 2017

The provincial government wants to make it easier to build hog barns and manure storage facilities.

The move is part of the government's effort to reduce red tape and unnecessary regulations.

Manitoba Pork General Manager Andrew Dickson says the proposed legislation would see the removal of a clause in the Environment Act that mandated the use of anaerobic digesters for hog operations.

"They've taken that legislation out, it was redundant," he commented. "The previous government had already admitted that these things don't work and we could build barns with two-cell lagoons...All the regulations that deal with manure storage and handling and application to land are all still in place."

Dickson says he's seen in some cases where an anaerobic digester could cost over a million dollars to install, adding the equipment did nothing to protect the environment.

Source : Portageonline

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.