The Rural Voice, 2001-07, Page 16Despite public concern about 'industrial
agriculture' and new nutrient
management regulations for farmers,
Paul Verkley is optimistic after
A DECADE ON THE
ENVIRONMENTAL
FRONT
By Keith Roulston
12 THE RURAL VOICE
Now that the Ontario Government has come down
with its draft proposal for the Nutrient Management
Act 2001 which has responded to most of the
concerns of farmers, Paul Verkley wonders if any other
jurisdiction could have delivered the kind of united farm
action Ontario has shown in the year since the Walkerton
water tragedy.
In the aftermath of the death of several people from
contamination of Walkerton's drinking water by E. coli,
probably from cattle on a local farm, the provincial
government considered new legislation regulating the use
of farm nutrients and farm organizations sprang into action
to speak on behalf of farmers. The fact Ontario's farm
organizations are well funded and well -staffed allowed the
process to happen, Verkley says.
"Probably none of this would have worked with out
having organizations like the Ontario Federation of
Agriculture (and) like our huge commodity boards. Both
the Federation and the commodity boards have full time
staff that do the grunt work for all the farm leaders who are
then able to stand in front of a meeting or give interviews
or lobby governments. None of that would have been
possible without the deep resources we've got in Ontario
with our farm organizations — guys like (senior
researcher) David ' Armitage who has been on
environmental issues full-time since the late '80s for the
Federation."
Verkley praises the work of people like Peter Doris of
the Ontario Cattlemen's Association and Gord Coukell,
chairman of the Dairy Farmers of Ontario. "We forget that
in Ontario we have the kind of resources in our commodity
organizations that people in other jurisdictions can only
envy," he says.
Credit also has to go to former OFA president Roger
George, Elbert van Donkersgoed of the Christian Farmers
Federation and Terry Daynard of the corn producers who
were real visionaries in setting up the Ontario Farm
Environmental Coalition (OFEC), he says. The formation
of that group gave Ontario a basis on which to mount a
quick reaction to the rapid -breaking events of the past year.
Verkley should know. He's been in the middle of the
movement of the farni environmental movement for much
of the past decade. Recently he was named an honorary life
member of the Ontario Institute of Agrologists for his
efforts. He has served as chair of the OFA environment
committee since 1995 and chair of OFEC's Nutrient
Management Working Group since 1997.
His busiest time, however, has come since the
Walkerton tragedy. Luckily, the crisis coincided with the
decision by Paul and his brothers John, Joe and Ed to sell
their 200 -cow dairy operation. The brothers' partnership
had worked well and allowed Paul to still take his shifts in
the barn in their three -times -a -day milking schedule and
have time away from the farm for meetings. But that was
before Walkerton.
"The cows were barely down the lane when Walkerton
broke," he recalls.
The repercussions led Verkley to be called on for
meetings two, three or four days a week in the past year.
The crisis also drew on the resources of the staff of
various commodity groups. Because of their experience
working together in the past on developing the