A REPORT ON CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF KEY ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES RELATED TO HOG PRODUCTION IN MANITOBA COMISSIONED BY: CLEAN ENVIRONMENT COMMISSION (CEC) October, 2007 For further information, contact: Don Flaten, Department of Soil Science, 307 Ellice Building, University of Manitoba, R3T 2N2, email: [email protected], phone 474-6257 Karin Wittenberg, Associate Dean (Research), 159 Agriculture Building, University of Maniotba R3T 2N2, email: [email protected], phone 474-6082 Qiang Zhang, Department of Biosystems Engineering, E2-376 EITC, University of Manitoba, email: [email protected], phone: 474-9819 PREFACE Background and scope The geographical area that is the province of Manitoba stretches across five distinct terrestrial ecozones, each with a unique combination of land forms, soils, water features, vegetation and climate. Within each ecozone exists a number of ecodistricts characterized with distinctive relief, geography, landforms and soils, vegetation, water, fauna and land use. The majority Manitoba’s agricultural activity, including pig production, lies within the Prairies and southern portions of the Boreal Plains ecozones. Agriculture activity exists to a lesser degree in the northern Boreal Plains and Boreal Shield ecozones, however, industry and public initiatives are likely to increase agriculture, including animal production in these regions. The challenge to Manitoba regulators is great as environmental regulation or policy requires the flexibility to address issues across this broad and geographically diverse landscape. Trends over the past 20 years confirm that Manitoba’s agriculture activity is diverse and remains very dynamic. Pig production has played a major role in this evolution and today leads the agriculture sector in farm cash receipts. However, unlike many other pork producing regions of the world, Canadian farm investment and management practices have two to four fold greater reliance on export markets. The challenge is to identify environmental protection policies that continue to offer Manitoba’s agriculture sector, and the pig industry specifically, opportunities to adapt as market forces change and new technologies become available. In November, 2006, Manitoba Conservation formally instructed The Manitoba Clean Environment Commission to undertake a review of the environmental sustainability of hog production in Manitoba. As a part of that process, researchers at the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Manitoba were asked to provide an overview of current knowledge relevant to the key environmental issues associated with pig production in Manitoba; to identify mitigation strategies and public policy currently considered or in use in other jurisdictions; and to provide an assessment of these environmental protection measures on the basis of environmental and economic impact. Over the course of two meetings with representatives of the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission, seven key environmental issues were identified and report format was confirmed. The seven issues to be addressed included nutrient management and water quality, water use, odour management and air quality, manure storage, manure processing, energy use, and pathogens and antibiotic resistance. The report format was to provide a description of each environmental issue, including an overview of the basic science principles, current scientific and technical knowledge and identification of mitigation strategies. Where a mitigation strategy is related to a review or description of public policy, public policy was defined to include education, research, government policy and regulation as well as best management practices. The intent of the report was not to provide evidence of all research done in any particular area. Source of information used to prepare the report was predominantly scientific information, but personal communication and technical information, such as adopted management practices, were included and referenced. ii Report summary Chapter 1 provides relevant statistics characterizing Manitoba’s pig production industry. The chapter includes methodology for calculation of total annual pig manure production as well as .total land base on which pig manure is applied, developed following consultation (summer 2007) with representatives from Manitoba Conservation, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiative as well as industry. Given that the manner in which pig manure is managed has a significant impact on both the economic competitiveness and the environmental sustainability of Manitoba’s pork industry, an improved mechanism is required for estimation of manure produced, manure composition and land area on which manure application is practiced. The importance and practice of efficient nitrogen and phosphorus use in pig production and cropland management are the focus of Chapter 2. High risk areas for nitrogen and phosphorus losses from Manitoba agricultural lands are identified and significant effort is directed towards our current understanding of sources and transport mechanisms for these nutrients. A review of the literature revealed that best management practices (BMPs) effective at reducing the risk of nutrient loss at the source are better understood than transport BMPs in our relatively cold, dry and flat environment and that source- oriented BMPs have greater potential for minimizing manure P loss to surface waters than transport and interception oriented BMPs. Water is used in pig production systems as drinking water for the animals, for cleaning the barns, sanitizing equipment and, in liquid manure systems, for flushing or moving the manure to the storage site. A small proportion of water usage is also for domestic use which includes human usage associated with barn operation. Chapter 3 provides an overview on water usage and wastage in hog operations and opportunities for conservation. Air quality, the subject of Chapter 4, is one of the greatest concerns to the public when considering the siting of new or the expansion of existing hog operations in Manitoba. The odour problem in Manitoba is to some extent a perception issue, similar to other jurisdictions. None-the-less this chapter addresses the major scientific issues associated with odour including odour emission (how much odour is released), odour dispersion (how far it travels downwind), and the odour impact on health and property values. The chapter also addresses how feeding regiment, the type of confinement facility, type of manure management system, and the method of land application may influence other air quality parameters, including ammonia, greenhouse gases, total reduced sulphur compounds, hazardous air pollutants and particulate matter. Odour mitigation technologies and strategies are discussed on the basis of research and evaluation in Manitoba and other jurisdictions. Chapter 5 addresses manure storage facilities and some of the regulatory requirements related to manure storage and handling. A large segment of Manitoba’s hog industry has adopted liquid hog manure storage systems, and as such this is featured in the chapter. Lagoon design, operation, and engineering assumptions made in developing regulations related to liquid manure storage are discussed for four provinces of Canada (Manitoba, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec) and four states in the USA (North Carolina, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois). The factors such as siting, total storage volume, depth, shape, detention time, and number of cells, embankment and excavation, inlet and outlet pipes design, effluent utilization, and water supply are compared for the different locations. iii Manure processing strategies are combinations of techniques and technologies that achieve one or more of the following objectives related to the environment: nutrient management and the isolation of nitrogen and phosphorus, renewable energy production, odour control, and or greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction. Chapter 6 focuses on manure processing and treatment technologies, which are currently utilized in various parts of the world, and hold significant promise as possible technical solutions for a sustainable hog industry in the Province of Manitoba. Chapter 7 offers a detailed breakdown of the energy costs of applying liquid hog manure. Energy use is often described as the sum of direct (e.g. diesel fuel consumption) and indirect (e.g. energy for production of fertilizer or machinery) energy. AN energy balance sheet related to a Manitoba study suggests that the availability of large quantities of liquid manure from hog production facilities presents an opportunity for some farmers to dramatically reduce indirect energy consumption by replacing energy-intense synthetic fertilizer with manure. The importance of zoonotic pathogens in animal agriculture and its relationship with food and waterborne illnesses in humans as well as the contribution made by animal production practices to the development and persistence of antibiotic resistance in zoonotic pathogens are discussed Chapter 8. Evaluation of Manitoba’s monitoring systems for food borne illness and water sources, and relevant environmental protection policy are assessed with respect to zoonotic pathogens and antibiotic resistance. A wide range of environmental protection policy instruments exist. Chapter 9 identifies relevant stakeholders and describes the range of policy instruments from voluntary measures, such as information provision or market incentives, through to the “command and control” or involuntary measures. Involuntary