Faced with time-consuming drives to apply its manure and new
phosphorus
management regulations, the Grenier family hog operation
recently turned to technology company Envirogain and its system
of converting manure into organic fertilizer.
In the Canadian province of Quebec, which has a major hog
industry, the manure problem has become so severe that a
moratorium has been placed on the expansion of pig farms. In
regions which have been found to have too much phosphorus in
the soil because of manure application, pork producers have been
forced to find other areas—often more than 50 kilometres from
their breeding sites—to spread pig manure. While the challenge to meet these requirements is great, help is
coming thanks to a new hog manure treatment system that is
being developed, marketed and operated by Envirogain, a
technology firm in Saint Romuald, on the south shore of Quebec
City. After five years of research on an experimental site, the firm
is marketing a technology that will allow hog operations to
continue production, and not have to be concerned about looking
for new land to spread manure.