National exposé is not a balanced view: MPC

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6 FROM PAGE ONE BALANCED VIEW from page 1 outside of the province, became the basis for the CTV program that aired nationally Dec. 8. Kynoch said MPC staff and researchers were made available to CTV journalists, but that little of the information provided made it to air. “I don’t believe the footage was balanced,” he said. Neither did a panel of experts from The Center for Food Integrity that reviewed the footage. Dr. Robert Friendship of the University of Guelph points to claims of murky drinking water as unhealthy made in the program as one example of misleading footage. “That’s actually feed in the water and pigs like that,” said Friendship. “That isn’t hurting the animal at all.” Although some of the footage, such of castration and tail docking, may be disturbing for viewers not accustomed to these practices, Dr. Laurie Conner of the University of Manitoba said the squeals of the pigs can’t necessarily be attributed to pain and suffering. “It appears to me the pig is squealing just as much because it is being held upside down or because it is being restrained,” said Connor, adding that the industry is looking into things such as using analgesics to make the procedure less painful. However, some of the practices shown didn’t meet the standards of the panel, including the euthanization of piglets by slamming them into metal posts. Mercy for Animals also sent the footage to humane slaughter expert, Temple Grandin, who is quoted in the W5 program as saying “blunt force trauma” as a means of euthanizing piglets should be phased out. Focus on stalls Much of the organization’s documentation focused on the use MOVING AT THE SPEED Of TEcHNOlOGy Compare the corn yield advantage with Hyland Hyland 3093 Hyland 3085 Hyland Silage Corn compared to BAXXOS RR compared to: compared to: compared to: Watch for more yield data on www.hylandseeds.com and www.yielddata.farms.com 1-800-265-7403 www.hylandseeds.com “We’re moving forward to phase out the gestation stalls, and we’re actually pouring a lot of dollars into research on that right now.” Karl Kynoch Competitor Moisture differences among comparisons were not significant. Yield data compiled from initial 2012 plots. Hyland and the Hyland Seeds logo are trademarks of Dow AgroSciences LLC. Roundup Ready 2 Technology is a registered trademark of Monsanto Technology LLC. ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. 11/12-18303-7 Hyland Yield Advantage of gestation stalls, which Mercy for Animals said is institutionalized cruelty. “We promote a milk-, egg- and meat-free diet, but realize that Moisture Advantage Dekalb DKC30-23 8.4 bu/ac 0.1% 18 Pioneer 39D95 16.1 bu/ac 0.3% 3 Dekalb DKC26-79 6.2 bu/ac -1.2% 3 Competitor Competitor Hyland Yield Advantage Hyland Yield Advantage Moisture Advantage Dekalb DKC26-79 -1.4 bu/ac -0.5% 9 Pioneer 39D95 8.1 bu/ac 1.0% 5 Moisture Advantage Hyland HL R219 -1.0 ton/ac -0.1% 11 Hyland HL SR35 -4.0 ton/ac -5.4% 10 Hyland HL SR22 -2.1 ton/ac -3.7% 9 No. of comparisons No. of comparisons No. of comparisons 18303-7 Hyland_TrialSataAd_6x9.indd 1 11/15/12 8:55 AM isn’t possible for all people, and so we want to see these animals raised humanely in a group housing situation, with straw bedding,” said the organization’s director Twyla Francois during a press conference in Winnipeg Dec. 10. Gestation stalls are already banned in the U.K., Sweden and several U.S. states and as of Jan. 2013 will be outlawed throughout the European Union. Manitoba Pork Council has said it intends to help producers phase out gestation stalls by 2025. Maple Leaf Foods, which is in the process of purchasing the featured barn as part of its acquisition of Puratone assets, is on the record as phasing out stalls by 2017. Francois said she doesn’t believe the industry is sincere about making the move to group housing and it takes shocking exposés to motivate industry and consumers. However, the organization does not intend to lobby for financial assistance for producers so that they can make a more rapid transition to group housing, which MPC estimates will cost an industry already suffering financial troubles between $500 and $600 per sow. “We’re moving forward to phase out the gestation stalls, and we’re actually pouring a lot of dollars into research on that right now,” said Kynoch. “We want to make sure we do it in the best possible way to make The Manitoba Co-operator | December 13, 2012 Twyla Francois of Mercy for Animals speaks to Winnipeg media about undercover investigation at an Arborg weanling facility. Photo: Shannon VanRaeS The W5 coverage paints a not-so-pretty portrait of modern farming methods. Photo: MeRcy foR aniMalS. sure this is a step forward for animal welfare.” Time to move on Manitoba’s Chief Veterinarian Dr. Wayne Lees noted gestation stalls were originally used to improve animal welfare by eliminating food inequality and aggression that can occur in group housing. “But I think we have found these have created another set of issues and it may be time to move on to another solution,” he said. Lees added that his office will review the information received and investigate the allegations before passing its findings on to the Crown for further review. Doug Chorney of Keystone Agricultural Producers said the motivation of the group responsible for the video should also be examined. “We have to know that the people behind these efforts have an agenda, they’re not really out there to demonstrate safe, healthy farm situations, they are out there looking for the extreme,” he said. “At the end of the day the producer’s No. 1 goal is to deliver the best animal welfare possible.” Mercy for Animals said it hopes that the video will encourage consumers to demand grocery stores like Metro, Sobeys and Walmart to provide gestation-stall-free pork. shannon.vanraes@fbcpublishing.com
The Manitoba Co-operator | December 13, 2012 7 FARMERS SUE Continued from page 1 “Some people compared the losses of farmers to the losses of investors, but that’s different. The investors made a decision to take this risk, but people selling their grain thought they were bonded and just doing business.” DOUG CHORNEY said John Sigurdson, a Riverton farmer and spokesman for the group. “We’re not saying who because we don’t know for sure ourselves. We’re at the early stages of (determining) that right now.” Puratone, which operates about 50 hog barns in Manitoba and three feed mills, filed for creditor protection Sept. 12, owing creditors around $100 million, including $86 million to three lenders, which are secured creditors. Maple Leaf Foods has since offered to buy the company’s assets for $42 million — well short of what is owed. And because it bought Puratone’s assets, and not the company itself, Maple Leaf is not responsible for paying the outstanding bills for grain. In a bid to find some money for the farmers left on the hook, Keystone Agricultural Producers invited the players in the affair to a closed-door meeting last week. Officials from Puratone, Maple Leaf Foods, the Manitoba Pork Council, Farm Credit Canada, and an affected farmer, Kyle Foster of Arborg, took part. Representatives from Deloitte and Touche, Bank of Montreal and the Animal Nutrition Association of Canada, who represent feed mills, were invited but didn’t attend. To encourage frank discussion, participants agreed not to disclose details but when asked if the meeting clarified where the affected farmers stand, KAP president Doug Chorney replied: “No.” “I tried not to create false hopes, but this is something we had to try,” said Chorney. “At the very least he (Foster) had the opportunity to speak his mind and all these stakeholders would hear what happened to the farmers. That’s important. “Some people compared the losses of farmers to the losses of investors, but that’s different. The investors made a decision to take this risk, but people selling their grain thought they were bonded and just doing business.” “There wasn’t a lot to be said,” added Foster. “Obviously nobody wrote us a cheque. It was good to see them come around the table and good that they heard us out. “We were kind of hoping to hear some better news out of that meeting Monday so I guess we’ll be going ahead with a lawsuit.” So far 20 of the estimated 30 affected farmers have agreed to explore a lawsuit, Sigurdson said. They are owed an estimated $960,000, but must decide if going to the courts will be worth the time and expense, Sigurdson said. “Our lawyer has already told us this could take us two years, but we’re not going to let this go unnoticed,” Sigurdson said. “We’ve depleted all outside forces to get any financial aid. We’ve gone to every possible thing we can think of and it hasn’t got us anywhere.” It’s particularly frustrating that those who delivered feed after Puratone sought protection under the Companies Creditor Arrangement Act were paid, but not those who delivered in the 15 days prior. “All of a sudden when they go into CCAA protection, the Bank of Montreal was able to step up with $11 million to pay for feed,” Sigurdson said. “Anyone who delivered on Sept. 12 or after has been paid the next day. “I think they think we’re just going to fade away into the background, but we refuse to be pushed away. “We delivered the grain in good faith. It got used up and fed straight to their hogs. In reality you could say they stole our grain. They had no intentions of paying for it.” Sigurdson and his brother Frank are owed $63,000. It’s the second major blow he’s suffered this year — on Aug. 1, 1,200 of his 4,000 acres were wiped out by hail. Sigurdson didn’t have hail insurance and his crop insurance payout was offset by good yields from fields that didn’t get hail. Chorney said he hopes such a situation can be avoided in the future. His organization would like to see the Canadian Grain Commission expand its grain security program, which now only applies to grains named in the Canada Grain Act and delivered to CGC licensed facilities, to feed mills. The CGC is in the midst of revamping the program, which obliges grain buyers to post security to cover what is owed to farmers for their grain. allan@fbcpublishing.com China says threats to harvests grow The country’s food security is threatened by limits to agricultural growth BEIJING / REUTERS China’s food security is under greater threat as its agriculture faces growing land, water and labour shortages over the next decade, the country’s agriculture minister said Nov. 9. This year is expected to be China’s ninth consecutive year of rising grain output, but experts have warned it might struggle to continue improving yields, despite a campaign aimed at consolidating, mechanizing and commercializing its farms. “The next five to 10 years are a key period for the development of China’s agriculture sector — with production factors like land, water and labour getting tighter,” said Han Changfu at a session of the ruling Communist Party congress in Beijing. “Agricultural production is facing greater risks — natural risks, market risks, security risks — and it is entering a period of high investment, high costs and high prices.” Han said China continued to expect bumper harvests this year despite a global decline in agricultural production. Soaring food demand from an increasingly prosperous population has piled the pressure on China’s pastures, but growing rates of urbanization and the encroachment of industrial projects on precious farmland have also added to the problems. Han said China would continue to press for the aggregation and mechanization of the farms in order to stave off the problems caused by decreasing acreage and the declining rural workforce. “Beijing will breed a new type of agricultural player and develop large-scale mechanized farming,” he said. In a speech at the same session, China’s Land and Resources Minister Xu Shaoshi said the country plans to restrict the amount of new land being taken over by industry, and would also seek to avoid encroaching upon farmland. A woman sits on a pile of corn as she removes the husks on a road located on the outskirts of Beijing. PHOTO: REUTERS/DAVID GRAY YIELD POTENTIAL Get the advantage of outstanding yield potential with Genuity® Roundup Ready® systems. In field scale trials conducted by Monsanto, a number of Genuity® Roundup Ready® hybrids yielded on par with InVigor® LibertyLink® hybrids.* www.genuitycanola.ca *Monsanto Field Scale trials conducted in 2010 and 2011. Always follow grain marketing and all other stewardship practices and pesticide label directions. Details of these requirements can be found in the Trait Stewardship Responsibilities Notice to Farmers printed in this publication. InVigor® and LibertyLink® are registered trademarks of Bayer. © 2012 Monsanto Canada, Inc.
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National exposé is not a balanced view: MPC

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