The Challenge of Reconciling Water and Agricultural Policies —The Role of Public Hearings - Water and Agriculture: Sustainability, Markets and Policies - page 381

Bringing sustainability to hog farming: a new consultation becomes necessary
This is the context in which the Québec government imposed a temporary
moratorium on further hog farm development and asked BAPE to conduct a new public
consultation—this time on the sustainable development of hog farming. A new
commission was set up with the following mandate:
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of hog production models in Quebec;
Draft a framework for sustainable hog farming; and
Propose one or more industry models capable of ensuring harmonious relationships
and protecting the environment.
The work of the new commission began in the fall of 2002 with a number of theme
conferences. Then, as with the water management hearings, two series of regional
meetings were held, the first one to provide information and the second to obtain public
input. In total, the commission held 132 sessions, received 382 briefs, and heard over
9,100 citizens and nearly 260 experts. The commissioners also gathered information by
traveling to other regions of Canada, the United States, and Europe with concentrated or
expanding hog industries.
In the fall of 2003 the Commission presented its report on bringing sustainability to
the hog farming entitled L'inscription de la production porcine dans le développement
durable (BAPE, 2003). The document highlights the important role the three dimensions
of sustainability play in ensuring the long-term viability of the pork industry. It contains
numerous recommendations and concrete suggestions for policymakers on how to
enhance the sustainability of hog farming and agriculture in general, including measures
to help make hog farming socially acceptable, economically viable and compatible with
the ecological equilibrium. Some of the key recommendations of this report are presented
in Box 2.
In general, the Commission concludes that sustainable hog farming is possible in
Québec. However, as an examination of the recommendations illustrates, integrating
sustainable development principles into agricultural policy will require more than just a
series of measures to foster the adoption of best management practices at the farm level.
Therefore, the commission concluded that it would be socially risky to lift the
moratorium on new hog farming operations until the government has taken genuine and
concrete actions toward this goal.
The Québec Government's responses to the BAPE report on the sustainable
development of hog farming
Extending the restrictions on hog farm expansion
On the advice of the BAPE commission on the sustainable development of hog
farming, the government decided to extend the temporary limitations on new hog
operations. It considered that before any further development could occur, an action plan
had to be implemented to ensure environmentally sustainable hog farming acceptable to
rural communities. Through the Regulation Respecting Agricultural Operations (RRAO),
the restrictions on new facilities were first extended until the end of 2004. This was