HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2003-03-26, Page 26PAGE 26. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2003.
Commodity leaders praise Johns for NMA changes
By Keith Roulston
Citizen publisher
Huron County’s farm commodity
leaders praised Helen Johns,
Minister of Agriculture and Food
and MPP for Huron-Bruce for
changes in the regulations for the
Nutrient Management Act but many
still expressed concerns about the
growing size of farms.
Leaders of commodity groups
were reacting to changes announced
Friday when they attended the
annual Huron County Federation of
Agriculture Members of Parliament
luncheon in Clinton, Saturday.
Following extensive consultations
with farm groups, Johns announced
changes in the regulations which will
give smaller farms more time before
they come under the regulations of
the act.
Changes include:
• Making July 1, 2003 the
implementation date of the proposed
regulations for all new livestock
bams and those expanding into and
within the large farm category.
• Setting up a provincial advisory
committee that would provide
recommendations to the government
regarding specific nutrient
management issues such as thin
soils.
• Tying the implementation dates
for any future regulations regarding
all operations, other than for new
and expanding livestock farms to the
availability of cost-shared funding.
• Establishing a protocol-whereby
the Ministry of the Environment
would have the ultimate authority to
ensure compliance with the
regulations through investigations
and enforcement.
• Ensuring that the Ministry of
Agriculture and Food would be the
first point of contact for on-farm
nutrient management issues,
including monitoring.
Johns, who called the changes
“substantial”, said farm leaders had
known about the proposals for some
time but the announcement had been
delayed because she had to convince
Computer jam
angers MP
An electronic petition protesting
the federal government’s
inflexibility on the Agricultural
Policy Framework jammed the
computer networks of members of
parliament in Ottawa last week and
left Huron-Bruce MP Paul Steckle
fuming.
“You didn’t help yourself at all,”
Steckle told those attending the
Huron County Federation of
Agriculture’s Members of
Parliament Dinner Saturday in
Clinton.
While Steckle acknowledged that
the computer breakdown was also
partly because of a heavy load of e-
mails dealing with Canada’s position
on the war on Iraq, “You are going to
be the ones who are going to take the
blame,” particularly among urban
MPs.
The petition originated when the
Huron Federation created 400,000
“hits” on the parliamentary e-mail
system in a matter of hours. But
Henry Damsma of the HCFA said
the problem caused by the
“electronic tractor demonstration”
was with the House of Commons
system not being set up properly.
The system in the U.S. capital
ioesn’t break down in heavier traffic
than what the Ottawa system was
subjected to, he claimed.
Steckle accepted a written petition
from the Federation at the meeting
and promised to deliver it to the
House of Commons.
Premier Ernie Eves and her cabinet
colleagues that there was a
consensus not only among leaders,
but among grassroots farmers.
Existing farms with 300 nutrient
units (a nutrient unit is the number of
animals housed at one time that will
provide nutrients for one acre of land
— approximately one cow) will
come under the regulations in 2005.
Other smaller groups will come in at
a later date, possibly as late as 2010,
she said.
“I expect by then everyone will
want to be involved,” she said. In
fact she worried that farmers not
included under the early
implementation may regret it
because they will remain under
municipal nutrient management
plans, which in some parts of the
province are very restrictive.
Seventeen counties across the
province have caps, ranging from
not allowing any new livestock
facilities to capping size at 400-500
livestock units, she said.
“In my head there is no doubt there
will be people who want to come
under (the regulations) sooner.”
Johns said she was also looking at
ways that specific commodity
groups could bring their members
under the act sooner.
Ben Van Diepenbeek, past warden
of Huron and current reeve of
Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh was
not so strong against caps. “The
strong perception among a lot of
small farmers out there is that there
need to be caps,” he said.
The Seaforth BIA and Brussels Business Associations
in partnership with the 7
Huron East Economic Development Committee and
the Huron Business Development Corporation
Preheat tAe,
Huron East Business Persons
Meeting and Social
Tuesday, April 1st, 2003
7:00 p.m. @ Seaforth Agriplex
Registration: 7:00 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.
Guest Speaker ** Laurel Armstrong**
“Working Together - Success for Rural Businesses”
& Networking Discussions: 7:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.
Social Time: 8:15 p.m.
^Snacks ^Cash Bar ^Pr/zes
Questions? Call Bob Fisher @ 527-0180
R.S.V.P. Bonnie LaFontaine @ 527-0305
« OPEN TO ALL HURON EAST BUSINESSES »
X_________________ ___________ ________✓
Presentation
Huron County Federation of Agriculture 1st Vice-President
Nick Whyte, centre, presents framed copies of the Farmers’
Creed to provincial Minister of Agriculture and Food and
Huron-Bruce MPP Helen Johns and MP Paul Steckle, chair
of the standing committee of agriculture and agri-food, at
the recent members of parliament dinner. (Keith Roulston photo)
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A bam housing 2,500 to 3,000
sows uses 10,000 gallons of water a
day and neighbours have concerns
that taking this amount of water out
of the aquifer will harm their wells,
he said.
Johns said the province is working
on new water-taking permits but as
for capping the size of farms: “I’m
very clear that I am here to protect
all of agriculture. Our goal here is to
be fair, to be science-based.”
The NM Act will provide
individual caps on each farm based
on its ability to use the nutrient
produced in the livestock operation,
she said.
Pat Down, a former president of
the Huron Federation and formei
reeve of Usbome Twp. said she felt
the call for caps is going to remain a
problem. She knows one family
living near a large hog bam who
won’t live in their house in the
summer, she said.
But Johns said there would be
substantial changes in agriculture in
the next 10 years with new
technologies changing manure
handling and storage. As for smell,
she said, Toronto’s air stinks but
people keep on living there.
Bob Emerson, vice-president of
the Bruce County Federation of
Agriculture told Johns that his group
had surveyed its 1600 members and
found 82 per cent were in favour of
not allowing large livestock bams
near small urban communities.
But Johns noted the Bruce County
Federation’s position disagrees with
that of the Ontario Federation. She
argued that what looks like a big
industrial bam may really just be two
families coming together to try to
stay on the farm.
OFA Executive Member Paul
Mistele agreed, noting a lot of young
people are getting into large bams to
take advantage of opportunities.
But Wayne Hamilton, HCFA
director from Stanley, worried about
the ramifications of new technology.
“If we’re (expanding) because of
technology it’s a slippery slope
toward the last person standing in the
township,” he said. “There has to be
a balance between what’s good for
the community and what’s good for
the individual farm. We’re headed
toward a really huge consolidation.
Is that where we want to go?”
(JLn Cunning, cj Sutg <£
Don Harron (a.k.a. Charlie Farquharson),
Catherine McKinnon & The Band
Dinner & Show $40 - 6 p.m.
Show Only $25 - 8 p.m.
Friday, March 28, 2003
Saturday, March 29, 2003
in Blyth at Blyth Memorial Hall
-A
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Tickets available: Blyth Festival Box Office 519-523-9300 or
after hours and on Saturday leave a message at 519-523-9396.
A Foundation for Enriching Education Perth Huron fundraising event.
SPECIAL OFFER: Order 2 performance tickets between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m. on Thursday, March 27th and receive on FREE dinner ticket.
NEWFOUNDLAND
Discover Our World
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with
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10 nights Accommodation
10 day Car Rental
Dinner Theatre, City Tour,
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Helen Graf
Goderich
Take Heart HurorTs Annual
Women's Event
with Juno nominated
Rosalie Moscoe
Thursday, April 3
6:30 p.m.
John Maaskant, representing the
county’s chicken producers, hoped
tbex'phase-in period for smaller
farmers won’t be too long, but he
called for compensation when there
are additional requirements for areas
that environmentally sensitive .
“Otherwise it would be
expropriation without
compensation,” he said, because
farmers wouldn’t be able to carry on
their operations.
But Johns noted that the new
regulations call for each size
category of farm to have
compensation set out before it comes
under the regulations. However the
funding will be on the basis of the
need to meet nutrient management
requirements for each individual
farm, she said.
For tickets call
Huron County Health
Unit 482-3416
or if long distance
T 1-877-837-6143