SERLO's History
A Common Goal
For years the founding members of SERLO quietly fought to preserve our agricultural way of life. We each had our own reason’s for being involved but we all held a common goal—to maintain a healthy agricultural ideal through sustainable livestock practices.
Sue Pearson and Malcolm McIlroy have been helping landowners fighting Confined Feeding Operation’s (CFO’s) for years. They have directed them to organizations and people that can help to give them the information needed to become informed about the Pro’s and Con’s of having a CFO for a neighbour. Sue and Malcolm are farmers raising cattle and grain.
Sherry Brock and her husband raise cattle in the Red Deer area. Sherry was alarmed by the information they received about a proposed hog operation in their area.
Lisa Bechtold got involved when the Taiwan Sugar Corporation (TSC) tried to build a massive hog factory in her neighbourhood. By digging for information and facts to prove that the project would not benefit their community, the County of Forty Mile denied the TSC application.
Lana Love was also involved in a TSC application, shortly after Lisa and her group began. The difference being that her Flagstaff County officials approved TSC. Three years of fighting through the courts ended the application. Lana and her husband are grain farmers. The TSC application is actually what spawned the idea to have a Province wide group to act as a central clearing house for the collection and dissemination of factual information about CFO’s. We also wanted to help the public understand the environmental issues surrounding CFO’s and to lobby the Government for better CFO regulations and enforcement of existing regulations.
In April 2002, our dream was realized when we were incorporated as the Society for Environmentally Responsible Livestock Operations (of Alberta)—SERLO.
Launching any new business is tough, but to get a non-profit society off the ground and running takes commitment, hard work and a lot of support. To make things a little harder, we have a Board of Directors of 12 members from all areas of Alberta, all farmers or retired farmers. Setting up meeting dates alone is a challenge.
Making a difference
So what has SERLO accomplished in its first year of operations? Unfortunately, most of the help we give is ‘behind the scenes’. We haven’t made the headlines much, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t making a difference. We have had meetings with the Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) to try to make suggestions for changes to the Act, we think they were listening. By fine tuning the rules and regulations, we hope to make all CFO’s environmentally safe. We are here to act as a watchdog to keep CFO’s and the NRCB honest and to lobby Governments as we feel the need.
“Watch dog” role
By acting as a watchdog, we’ve discovered that all applications for new CFO’s to the NRCB, are allowed a 10% (plus or minus) variance in their numbers. That being said, an operation that applies for a 249 sow farrow to finish (a registration) using the 10% variance, could actually have 274 sows (an approval). The important difference between these two numbers is the notification of neighbours, a “registration” does not require notification to neighbours.
Advisory role
SERLO was formed as an advisory group only—we have the ability and the resources to supply information or contacts to anyone requesting them, we do not have the resources to be hired as consultants. As we are strictly a non-profit organization, we rely solely on membership dues ($20.00 / year or $15.00 / year for students) and on donations to fund our yearly conferences and the running of the office. Our members include CFO operators, County Councilors farmers and urban dwellers. The common thread holding us all together is our concern for our water, soil and air.
