The Rural Voice, 2000-09, Page 81PERTH T4
County Pork Producers NEWSLETTER
Jim Van Herk, President
519-595-4863
- The Rural Voice is provided to Perth
County Pork Producers by the PCPPA.
Will today's cap work in 15 - 20 years?
Any opinions expressed herein may
not necessarily reflect the views of
the Perth County Pork Producers'
Association.
By now most people know the
results of the Ontario Municipal
Board (OMB) hearing in West Perth.
Ben Gardiner appealed the nutrient
management by-law that had been
enacted by the. municipality. His
appeal had to do with the cap of 600
animal units per site, 30 per cent land
ownership, and the hauling distance
of eight kms.
The OMB ruled the hauling
distance requirement was too
restrictive and ordered that it be
deleted from the by-law. The OMB
did, however, rule that the land
ownership of 30 per cent and the cap
of 600 animal units were appropriate
and could be retained in the by-law.
It seems that most producers can
accept some ownership requirement
as not being too restrictive. The
figure of 30 per cent therefore, while
it could be considered either a little
low by some, or high by others,
seems like a reasonable starting
point.
This.amount of land guarantees a
contingency area for manure in the
event of problems getting to other
rented farms, etc. because of crops,
traffic or other problems. Having an
ownership component this high
means that we will not see barns
being built on five or 10 -acre parcels
of land because they would not be
Targe enough to be economically
feasible.
In Perth County the minimum size
of farm that can be created by
severence is 30 hectares (75 acres).
Under the 30 per cent land ownership
formula this size of farm could still
accommodate a 1,000 -head feeder
barn as a home site, but would
require additional land agreements on
which to spread the balance of the
manure to comply with a nutrient
management plat.
A much more contentious issue is
the cap of 600 animal units on any
given site. On the face of it, and in
the short term, this number does not
seem to be a problem for most
producers.
But, what about the longer term?
How can we make decisions for the
future of our operations, decisions
that have to be made as to our
economic viability, when we are
limited to the size of operation.
I don't see caps on the size of
operations as the answer to the
problems we see environmentally
today. Nor will caps do anything to
protect the "family farm", as the
council in West Perth has suggested.
Instead I believe it plays into the
hands of the larger loop systems who
contract with producers to raise hogs.
Is this where the industry is going?
If we had felt the need for such
"caps" 15 or 20 years ago — it would
probably have been set in 150 to 200
animal unit (600 - 800 feeder pig
THANK YOU
The Perth County Pork Producers wish to thank all the contributors to our prize table at our
annual golf tournament: Farrnix, Maximum Swine, J. P. Uniac Insurance, Hutton Farm Supplies,
O'Rourke Transport, Dwyer Mfg. McPhail's Feed Service/Purina, BSC Animal Nutrition, Brian
Van Moorsel (Hiller Realty), Farm Credit Corp. (Stratford), Mitchell & District Credit Union, CIBC -
Tavistock, Larry Batte & Associates, Perth County Co-op, Stratford Fairgrounds, CIBC - Mitchell,
Grand Valley Fortifiers, Royal Bank, Ross Dixon (Ray Black), T.D. Bank - Mitchell, Good Meyer
Litt & Schwartzentruber, Pfizer Animal Health, Mitchell Feed Mill, Gencor, Kenpal Farm Products,
C1BC - Stratford, Diversey - Lever, Luckhardt Transport, H. Van Moorsel Insulation, Elanco
Animal Health, St. Willibrord Credit Union, Yantzi Feed & Seed, Alpharma.
range). Could we live with those
limits today? Will we be able to live
with a cap of 600 animal units per
site in 15 to 20 years? While I don't
agree with the caps, I accept that
there are those who do.
I think if we must have caps on the
size of operations, then we must do it
provincially, and not municipally.
The effect of caps being set at the
municipal level will be to chase
livestock producers out of, in this
case West Perth, to other
municipalities.
Tbis is wrong and will only result
in those municipalities developing
by-laws to stop this process.
And around and around the wheel
goes.
The provincial government has
promised us legislation to deal with
the whole issue of "intensive
farming".
I hope the issues that have risen
around the questions of enforcement
and caps can be addressed in a way
that will see a balance between the
needs of both producers and rural
residents in our province.°
— Submitted by Russ Danbrook
P.S. An appeal of the results of the
OMB hearing has been started by
Ben Gardiner and could be
considered as early as this fall.
PERTH COUNTY
PORK PRODUCERS'
PORK PRODUCTS
• Smoked Pork Chops
• Fresh Pork Chops
• Stuffed Loin Chops
• Smoked Sausage
• Smoked Cheddar Sausage
• Bacon Burgers
• Teriyaki Pork Steaks
• Vittorio's BBQ Sauce
AVAILABLE FROM:
Steve Hulshof (Kinkora) 348-8167
Martin van Bake! (Dublin) 345-2666
Walter Bosch (Monkton) 356-9000
Ted Keller (Mitchell) 348-9836
SEPTEMBER 2000 77