The Rural Voice, 2003-04, Page 52Ag News
Huron farm groups praise NMA changes
Huron County's farm commodity animals housed at one time that will summer, she said.
leaders praised Helen Johns, Minister 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. A barn
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 former
reeve of Usborne Twp. said she felt
the call for caps is going to remain a
problem. She knows one family
living near a large hog barn who
won't live in their house in the
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 a day
earlier when they attended the annual
,Huron County Federation of
Agriculture Members of Parliament
luncheon in Clinton, March 22.
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
barns and those expanding into and
within the Targe 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
thMinistry 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
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
48 THE RURAL VOICE
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 barns
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 barn 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 barns 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?"
John Maaskant, representing the
county's chicken producers, hoped
the 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.°