CALGARY (Staff) – When a farmer has a small amount of manure to spread on his land, that’s his problem.
When there’s 100,000 extra tonnes of the stuff, it becomes a community problem.
That is the situation for poultry farmers in the Fraser Valley where chicken manure is piling higher every year. The consequences are water contamination and soil overloaded with nitrogen.
“Ground water is already seriously contaminated in some areas and it’s only going to get worse,” said Roger McNeill, an economist with Environment Canada who is working with others on the Fraser River Action Plan to clean up the water supply.
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In some areas, small children and pregnant women are warned not to drink the water. That water is also shared by people across the border in Washington state. They are complaining loudly about the pollution, said McNeill.
Better disposal required
The problem is further compounded because it’s almost impossible to refuse new poultry farm developments because much of the land falls under the province’s agricultural land reserve, which prevents sales or development for purposes other than agriculture. McNeill said new legislation will probably insist new poultry developments have better manure disposal plans.
The poultry manure problem led to a controversial project where 32 steers are fed a sterilized, pelleted manure as part of their finishing rations. The backlash from cattle producers and consumers was swift.
“I understand the cattlemen are trying to protect the public image of beef. But I’m not sure if they aren’t shooting themselves in the foot,” McNeill said. “Maybe it should be more important to them to look at lower cost feed.”
In some American states recycled broiler chicken manure is commonly fed to cattle.
In Virginia about 40 percent of cattle rations are derived from manure and feathers, said McNeill.
Besides feeding the manure to cattle, B.C. is looking at other alternatives like hauling it to the dry lands of the province’s interior or building a fertilizer plant to process the manure for the agriculture and the forest industries. Both alternatives are expensive he said.
