By Lorne Small - June 12, 2015
The Minimum Distance Separation Formulae has become a well established system used by local municipal planners. For many years our organization has strongly supported the concept of using the planning act and the municipal building permit system to separate livestock farmers from their urban neighbours. The MDS setbacks are designed however to deal only with odour concerns. MDS was never intended to deal with other potential conflicts such as dust, light, smoke, vibration or flies, although it should help in those areas as well. Being considered a good farm neighbour requires a reasonable setback distance between residences and the farm fresh aromas emanating from livestock farm activities. Over the years, the MDS regulatory process has protected normal farming practices from nuisance complaints.
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[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/JUNE-12-CFFO.mp3"][/audio] The MDS process most recent updates were in 2006 and 1996. A decade later, MDS is under review again. Our organization has forwarded comments on the proposed review and update. It is encouraging that the ideas proposed to update the regulations will continue to reinforce the original concepts. From our perspective there are several significant changes being proposed: o Anaerobic digesters are being uniquely identified and treated as a separate section. We believe that this is a desirable approach. The intent is to provide unique odour setbacks for these relatively new agriculture and organic waste structures. They have the potential to have a very different odour profile than traditional livestock facilities. Having clear and unique regulations is the appropriate approach. oThere will be a reduced footprint for smaller livestock operations, thus reducing potential conflict and accommodating residences closer to small or hobby style livestock farms and vice versa. oThere will be an enlarged footprint for the much larger livestock operations. Since the MDS was first envisioned, livestock facilities have become much larger and the need for well managed odour control has become more sophisticated. oFrom time to time some individuals or groups try to use the MDS regulations for purposes that it was never intended to deal with. Some of the proposed minor changes should provide more protection from the people who, for whatever reason, are opposed to valid farm activities. The livestock farming community will welcome these changes. oThere is an intention to upgrade the software and use some modern technology, which should improve the customer experience and reliability. We compliment the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food for its efforts to keep the MDS process updated and consistent with the changes made to the Provincial Policy Statement. Ontario farms are changing in scale and complexity; keeping the regulatory process modernized is important for the productivity and profitability of our family farms. ______________________________________________________________________________________ Lorne Small is the President for the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario. The CFFO Commentary represents the opinions of the writer and does not necessarily represent CFFO policy. The CFFO Commentary is heard weekly on CFCO Chatham, CKNX Wingham, and UCB Canada radio stations in Chatham, Belleville, Bancroft, Brockville and Kingston. It is also archived on the CFFO website: www.christianfarmers.org. CFFO is supported by 4,000 family farmers across Ontario.
