This piece appearred on www.agrinetinternational.com correspondents. I thought it put a new slant on the subject. Pity it isn,t read a bit more throughout Europe. ========================================================== There's still time to avoid manure surpluses 2002-12-03 08:36:21.0 The Christian Farmers Federation is in favour of setting limits on the size and intensity of livestock farms. Earlier this month the CFFO policy setting board adopted this recommendation: "Ontario should add to the Provincial Policy Statement under the Planning Act a statement that allows municipalities to set limits on the size and intensity of livestock farms. Municipalities should be able to set a maximum size in the range of 400 to 600 livestock units per site and a maximum density in the range of 1.0 to 2.0 livestock units per acre depending on the environmental and cultural needs of their communities." CFFO has been in favour of caps on the size of livestock barns for quite some time, but this is the first time that the membership has agreed to specific maximums. CFFO supports municipalities having a role in establishing a cap, but rejects the idea that municipalities should be allowed to restrict livestock completely. A cap on a livestock barn should not be less than 400 livestock units. The rationale for caps is a basic stewardship principle. Raising livestock and cropping good soils have a symbiotic relationship. Both are important to sustainable agriculture. Livestock rely on and benefit from the gifts of good land. Good land benefits from livestock manures being returned to it. Livestock and land belong together. A sustainable livestock sector must be land based and a sustainable crop sector needs the soil building organic matter of livestock manures. Caps will disperse livestock across our countryside, returning nutrients in moderate amounts in many watersheds. Without concrete action permanently linking our livestock to land, Ontario risks the controversies that the Quebec livestock sector is experiencing. Quebec's Environmental Review Board has begun a year-long examination of pork production and sustainable development of the pork industry in that province. It has a mandate to look at everything: models of production, research on odour suppression, pork production's relationship to the non-farm community, impact on public health, and the role of municipalities to regulate. Quebec has been regulating its livestock sector for at least three years and brought in another set of rules just last June. Public controversy has only deepened. Why? Quebec has allowed surpluses to happen. There are manure surpluses in significant watersheds. When there is more manure than can be safely applied on land close by, we create long-term management challenges with no easy or inexpensive solutions. Now Quebec's provincial government has turned a six-week moratorium on new hog barns into an 18-month ban in more than 100 municipalities that have a manure surplus while the Environmental Review Board searches for a way forward. In Ontario there is still time to avoid manure surpluses. Email this article to a friend © Copyright Meredith Corporation 2002. All rights reserved.