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16 THE RURAL VOICE
Caldwell, with Mike Toombs,
manure management specialist with
OMAFRA, studied regulations on
large scale livestock operations right
across the country, finding Ontario
more restrictive than some provinces,
though behind Quebec's tough rules.
One of the most interesting
approaches is one taken in Manitoba,
Caldwell says. There operations with
more than 400 livestock units (the
equivalent of 1,600 to 2,000 feeder
pigs) must be certified by the
ministry of environment. There's also
a requirement that five per cent of
these larger operations undergo an
audit of their NMP on an annual
basis. The idea that you could be that
one in 20 farmers audited every year
is going to keep proper management
in the forefront of a farmer's
thinking, he says.
Something has to be done to
rebuild public confidence that
they are being protected from
poor management, Caldwell says.
Even without creating new
legislation, the province could
redesign current regulations to bring
more control and he wouldn't be
surprised to see the government
move in some of these areas. One
would be requiring certificates of
compliance for all new buildings and
involving the MOE in reviewing
applications for those certificates,
instead of the approval being issued
by OMAFRA. Many non -farmers
have the perception OMAFRA has
too narrow a focus on agriculture
alone and giving MOE more input
would give them more confidence in
the process, Caldwell says.
Meanwhile, though farm leaders
like Huron County Federation of
Agriculture President Pat Down
decry the misinformation used by
hog barn opponents, such as
comparing Huron County to Holland
or North Carolina where hog
numbers are far higher, farm
organizations are also scrambling to
catch up to the rapidly changing
circumstances regarding public
distrust of the industry. Bradshaw, a
former OMAFRA engineer who
spent part of his career in Huron, still
maintains that the Teaks in the
Ashfield barns were two isolated
incidents and that most manure
storages are safe. Still, he indicated
Ontario Pork was shaken by the
incidents and has called tenders for a