The Manitoba government intends to loosen rules that might stop farmers from improving their farms’ environmental safety.
A proposed law would allow farmers to suggest improvements to orders received from the Farm Practices Protection Board.
Manitoba hog farmers are pleased with the proposed change, said Manitoba Pork Council chair Marcel Hacault.
“It seems pretty well exactly what we had asked the government to do. That’s a good thing.”
The board was created to administer Manitoba’s right-to-farm law, which deals with odor, noise and dust complaints against farms.
Read Also
Russian pulse trouble reports denied
Russia’s pulse crop will be larger than last year, which won’t help prices rally from their doldrums.
The board investigates complaints and can order farmers to change their methods if it thinks they are not taking sufficient steps to ensure their farms aren’t
affecting other people.
But under the present law, the board cannot change an order once it is made. That could stop farmers from improving their methods or using better technology than what was available when the order was made.
For example, a farmer who was ordered to put a straw cover on a manure lagoon couldn’t use a better cover in the future.
“If he comes back a year or two (after receiving an order) and suggests he’d like to put a synthetic cover on it, the board would have to amend its order,” said Gordon MacKenzie, Manitoba Agriculture’s director of boards and commissions.
“They can’t do that right now.”
The amended act has to be passed by the legislature before it becomes law, but MacKenzie said he didn’t expect it to take long.
“We don’t expect this to be controversial.”
