RESTON, Man. – David Rolfe worries that another hurdle will soon be thrown in the path of Manitoba’s family farms.
The province is reviewing several recommendations that deal with livestock development in Manitoba.
One of them, if adopted, would move the threshold for the regulation of an intensive livestock operation to 300 animal units of manure from 400.
An animal unit is defined as the number of animals it takes to excrete as manure 73 kilograms of nitrogen per year.
“It has a lot of implications, not just for larger operations, but for the family farm as well,” said Rolfe, a hog and grain producer near Elgin, Man.
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The recommendation is one of about 40 submitted to the province by a livestock stewardship panel, chaired by agricultural economist Ed Tyrchniewicz.
The change would mean all new and existing livestock operations with 300 animal units or more would have to file manure management plans.
Those operations would also be prohibited from winter manure spreading.
While recognizing the environmental benefits, Rolfe said the change would make it harder for family farms to expand hog and cattle operations, even though the government is urging them to diversify.
If a proposed expansion of a cattle or hog operation was going to push the farm above the threshold of 300 animal units, the owner would be challenged and face the expense of a conditional use permit hearing and a technical review, said Rolfe.
Producers exceeding the threshold of 300 animal units would also need to have long-term storage for their manure, he noted. In the case of hog producers, two common options are a lagoon or a large, above-ground storage tank.
Those costs would be difficult for many family farms to bear, he said.
The province has already acted on several recommendations from the livestock stewardship report.
It will decide by year’s end what other recommendations to implement, said Manitoba agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk, while attending a district meeting of Keystone Agricultural Producers in Reston last week.
She said the province still plans to lower the threshold to 300 animal units, but is looking at ways to phase in the change.
The livestock stewardship panel also recommended that the calculation of animal units be cumulative. Wowchuk said there has been no decision on that.
Keystone Agricultural Producers sent a letter to the province this month lobbying against the reduction to 300 animal units.
KAP president Don Dewar agreed with Rolfe’s assessment of the challenges the change could pose to family farms.
“We’ve got to make sure they don’t make it too expensive for the small farm to exist,” he said.
