Trees have to keep pig odours away

The Canadian Pork Council (CPC), together with regional partners in eastern Canada, is delivering a programme aiming to plant more trees across the landscape, to the benefit of both farmers and the non-farming public.

A two-year awareness project was initiated in April 2005 - and will be wrapping up activities in March 2007 - to demonstrate that trees planted at or around pig house sites - referred to as shelterbelts - provide a chance to control odours better.

Moreover, the are also diminishing the amount of energy needed to keep barns warm and dry.

According to an Environmental Programs spokesman the demonstration is designed to promote shelterbelts. The project will also ensure that the expertise exists in the future to have shelterbelts installed properly and effectively throughout various Canadian hog provinces.

The project is offering a training course, open to those in a position to promote and design shelterbelts for hog producers. In addition, the course provides participants with experience as farm site plans are part of the training.

CPC President Clare Schlegel says, "When a hog producer comes to understand that by simply planting trees in a planned approach, the prevalence of odours is significantly reduced, farm energy costs can be cut by 25 to 30%, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced and the aesthetics of the site are drastically improved, the uptake of the practice is likely to be rapid."