Farmer Blocked From Hog Construction

Reprinted from The Farmers Forum (April 2001): www.farmersforum.com

NAPANEE - In the new amalgamated Township of Stone Mills, near Napanee, Mark Slack aborted his first site for a 4,000 head sow barn because of heavy opposition.

For his second chosen site, he's jumped through every hoop government requires and more. He's met set back requirements, paid for a hydrology study and completed a nutrient management plan, which was reviewed by the Ministry of Agriculture.

But that wasn't enough for Concerned Citizens for the Community Environments, made up of local residents and cottagers, who don't trust the ministry's review and are hiring an independent.

The concerned citizens group say that the ministry favours the livestock industry, arguing that one might just as well put the fox in charge of the hen house.

The spotlight on Slack's proposed operation has area farmers looking more closely at their expansion ideas.

Meantime, the ministry defends its work. A source told Farmers Forum that the ministry investigates 16 factors and then rules whether or not all requirements are met. The third party review is independent and aims to meet the needs of both sides of a dispute, said a ministry spokesperson.

The hydrology study, required by the township but not the province, wasn't enough for the citizens group or Erinsville real estate broker Robert Storring, who has challenged the township council to have the courage to stop the building. He says the lowest point on the farm, where the hog barn is to be built, is 10 metres higher that Beaver Lake. The swampy area that leads to the lake is about half-a-mile from the site.

Meantime, the municipality has incorporated heavier restrictions for farmers with its own plans on spreading manure. It uses the formula for working out acres to livestock units used by the Ministry of Agriculture. But in the township, a farm owner must own enough land to spread 40 per cent of the manure his farm produces.

Clerk-administrator for the township, Darlene Plumley, says residents are concerned about both water quality and quantity.

"We don't know how much water the operations will take. We don't have knowledge to deal with this," she said. The manure spreading bylaw is triggered when a farmer applies for a building permit.

For Storring, the real issue is real estate values. In a Kinston Whig Standard article he estimated that a hog barn would reduce real estate values between 30 and 50 per cent.