Harry Siemens – Thirty-year-old hog producer Dave Gsell came to Manitoba from Switzerland in November 2005 leaving a shriveled and dying hog industry, government induced and relocating near Rosenort on a 650-sow Isowean hog farm.

Here is Harry’s audio commentary

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He had great plans for expansion, step by step, but the Manitoba government’s religious environmentalist fanaticals have put a stop to his dreams of the Promised Land by imposing a draconian permanent ban on hog expansion on two-thirds of agricultural Manitoba, almost seven million acres.

“I have the feeling the same will happen in Manitoba as in Switzerland some years ago,” Gsell told a Morris hog producer rally recently and also in an interview after the meeting. “In the 1970’s, we had a big problem with water pollution. Lake Bodensee had become a sewer dump because of the rapid expanding population in Switzerland in the 50’s and 60’s.”

The huge increase in industrial and agriculture production had people dumping their wastewater into the lakes and rivers. In the 70’s, it was so bad, that it was impossible in some places to take water from the lake.

The Swiss native said just like in Manitoba, the government and environmentalists blamed mostly the hog industry for the pollution. In 1978, they placed a complete ban on any more new hog barns. In 1983, they passed legislation to include a unit limitation as to how much livestock a producer could have. Ironically, they wanted to ban industrial hog production, but in Switzerland, industrial hog production was anything higher than 150 sows and 75 gilts or 1000 market hogs.

In the 70’s, there had been a huge expansion in the hog industry, farmers investing in feedmills, new barns, and new technologies.

“When the bill passed in 1983, the farmers had to reduce their farms from 200 to 250 sows farrow to finish units, to 150 sows,” said Gfell. “However, when the ban came in 1978, many producers did not have new barns, but 50-year old barns in many cases. Producers are still using those same barns today because they have not been able to build anything new.”

Here comes the challenge for the industry in Manitoba. Now imagine in Manitoba, if the province had frozen the industry in the 1970’s at that level, fast forward to 2008 and look at the scenario. Those producers who have relatively new barns now in Manitoba are in good shape for the next ten, maybe 20 years.

“But the ones like me, who have just started out [he came here in November 2005] and my barn is already 21 years old,” he said with heavy emotion. “I’m 30 years old, and even if I do some renovations, my barn will only last for ten years at the most, maybe, and then I have to replace or get out.”

His original plan was to build a feedmill on his farm, a new barn to feed his pigs up to 50 pounds, then another barn for finishing pigs, a step by step sustainable plan.

“Well, that is impossible under the permanent ban placed on hog barn expansion by the government,” he said.

He has one other concern. If he remains as an Isowean producer, he has to ship more pigs to stay viable in the future. Even now, they have dropped the number of producers on a 2000-pig load to 5, from 7 and who knows that may go to three soon.

“They have gone to five producers because of disease reasons, but he sees where they will reduce that to three farms,” said Gsell. “Then I must ship mine at a discounted price.”

Cutline:

Dave Gsell moved to leave a dying hog industry in Switzerland in 2005 o come to he land of plenty of opportunity. He told his story at the recent hog producer rally in Morris..