The Rural Voice, 1991-05, Page 66BRUCE
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9
519-364-3050
• The Rural Voice is provided to Bruce
County farmers by the BCFA.
County Federation. of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
THE ENVIRONMENTAL BILL OF RIGHTS WILL BE GOOD FOR US ALL
As we all know now, the Environ-
ment Minister, Ruth Grier, is proposing
an Environmental Bill of Rights for
Ontario. The idea of such legislation is
that each citizen should have the right to
enjoy a clean environment, the same
way we enjoy the right to move about,
associate with whom we please, and say
what we think. People who find their
clean environment being destroyed,
could take legal action against the of-
fending party.
It sound reasonable enough, yet the
reaction from farmers and farm groups
has been overwhelmingly negative.
Farmers feel threatened. They are
frightened by the thought that city slick-
ers driving through the countryside
might object to certain farm practices
and take action based on the EBR.
Farm groups are justifiably lobbying
to ensure that so called "normal farm
practices" will not be subject to ques-
tion. But the $64,000 question is: "what
is normal?" If normal means environ-
mentally acceptable, then I agree with
the lobby effort. But if "normal" in-
cludes all the traditionally accepted
practices, it becomes hypocritical to
exclude them all from action under
EBR.
Take, for instance, the handling of
livestock manure. The last few winters
have been light on snowfall, and a famil-
iar sight is the spreading of manure on
frozen fields. The individual involved
probably doesn't think of this as pollu-
tion. But scientifically, there is no ques-
tion that it is. Manure spread through the
winter runs off into creeks when the
snow melts. It pollutes the water and it's
in everybody's interests to stop it. This
has been well documented for many
years, and there is no excuse for anyone
to continue the practice. If it takes a
lawsuit, launched under EBR, to make
sure farmers wake up to the responsibil i -
ties, I say "bravo!"
The ironic fact is that, pollution
aside, wasting manure and purchasing
back the nutrients in a bag is sheer stu-
62 THE RURAL VOICE
pidity from an economic viewpoint.
Why not stop the waste (along with the
pollution) and save big bucks on the
fertilizer bill?
I've taken only one small example
here, but I believe that if we examine the
many common farm practices that ap-
pall environmentalists, we will find fi-
nancial gain to the farmer can be had in
changing them. I'm talking about em-
ploying systematic use of cover crops,
conservation tillage, proper manure
containment, reducing or eliminating
pesticide and fertilizer use, to name only
a few.
My opponents will say that this re-
quires time for an "education process."
We've been talking like that for a decade
now, while the most offensive practices
continue. Let's face it, many of us are
too overworked, or too uninterested, or
just too dam lazy to change. We need to,
at some point, be pressured into change,
and EBR may just be the tool to exert the
pressure. Ruth Grier is doing us a fa-
vour!O
NOTE: Each month this page will con-
tain an opinion on a current farm issue.
We would like to know what YOU think.
If your opinion differs from the one you
have read here, or if you support our
view, call the office at 364-3050.
BCFA DIRECTORS' MEETING
Monday, May 27
Monday, June 24
OMAF Boardroom, Walkerton
8:00 p.m.
Members are welcome to attend
At the annual Bruce Federation meet the members night held recently in Elmwood,
Agnes Diemert of Ayton was named this year's winner of the Tommy Cooper Award.
A dairy farmer and a very active member of the community, Agnes was presented
with the award by Ross Kenter of CFOS Radio of Owen Sound.