AOPA Feedback
Greg MacLennan—Sedgewick
“Scientific means”
The use of the term “scientific means” by the Alberta government with relationship to CFO operations and the granting of approvals by the NRCB is an insult to actual scientists that are not employed by the government. How can the NRCB make a “scientific” decision when not all information on an application for a hog factory or a huge feedlot is provided by the applicant, contains conflicting information or is sometimes not completed by an engineering firm? Why is the Alberta taxpayer funding the NRCB when we are not receiving answers to these questions? Why are these applications for operations that are not fully completed, given full approval to build with just a few conditions attached? Who is going to make sure these conditions are met? Why does preferential treatment seem to be given to the establishment of CFO operations that have the potential to destroy our water, air, land and public health? Does the Alberta government actually care about our environment and our health or is blind-sided development at all costs it’s only consideration? Who pays for the cleanup of a CFO when one or more of these operations goes bankrupt or decides to leave the country? These are too many unanswered questions.
Before we look at changing the AOPA, which is a disgraceful piece of legislation and needs drastic updating to correspond with the real world, we need to look at how it is now enforced and how it will be enforced in the immediate future. No matter what act or law the government passes, if it is not enforced or is not able to be enforced without variance and interpretation by the enforcement body, it then becomes useless.
There is a wind of change happening in the food animal industry worldwide. Europe has outlawed liquid manure lagoons and many U.S. States are phasing them out and legislating complete removal over the next few years. The world’s largest hog producer, Smithfield’s Foods is requiring that it’s contract producers eliminate lagoons from their operations by 2008. McDonald’s, the worlds biggest meat purchaser, has listened to public opinion and has decreed that they will not purchase meat from any producer who indiscriminately administers antibiotics, uses antibiotics as growth promoters or uses any growth hormones in their operation. As nearly every lagoon based hog factory feeds and injects an endless supply of antibiotics to their hogs because of the stressful conditions of a lagoon based CFO, McDonald’s will not be purchasing from these types of operations. As more and more people are becoming concerned as to how the meat they are eating is raised, more and more large food distributors will be taking similar action. Alberta would be very smart in not having to be forced by the market to comply with these requests by incorporating legislation now that will satisfy world markets. This adds a new focus to the term “sustainable agriculture”.
There are other science-based technologies currently available that replace manure lagoons. Anaerobic bio-digesters are an example. Alberta needs to heed the example of other countries and States by banning the use and construction of liquid manure lagoons before it is too late. The changes to the AOPA should add incentive to adopt new technologies in the production of animals in CFO’s if Alberta is not to be left in the dust of advancing technology.
My last point is something that has always bothered me about the AOPA. This being the total lack of any reference to phosphorus content in manure application. There is a rule about how much nitrogen is “supposed” to be applied to land that has been sampled and tested but nothing in AOPA states how much phosphorous can be applied. The Province of Manitoba is now conducting a study into how much phosphorous is being applied to lands in that Province. The reason being that blue-green algae is destroying lakes, rivers, aquatic life and fresh water supplies, a direct result of over application of phosphorous. Early indicators are that the majority of excess phosphorous runoff has resulted from hog manure application from the many new hog CFO’s in that Province. The only reason that this writer can see as to why there is no phosphorous regulation included in the present AOPA is that producers, especially hog CFO operators would require four or five times as much land to legally spread their liquid manure on. Most of the world’s intelligent governments have outlawed phosphorous in soaps and detergents but we are still dumping more on the ground than any crop can uptake.
Albertans deserve a much better “scientific” approach to CFO and animal production standards, rules and enforcement than what is provided by the already obsolete and inconsistent legislation found in the AOPA. The Alberta government should be promoting the development and implementation of sustainable farming and animal production so as to become a leader in these fields and not a follower of now defunct and environmentally hazardous methods of raising food animals. The hundreds of complaints that were submitted to the NRCB in the first year it was responsible for administrating and enforcing the AOPA should be an indication that vast changes need to be made to the AOPA and a more diligent attitude towards proper enforcement be made.
Greg MacLennan
Administrator
http://www.albertaenviro.com
Sedgewick, Alberta
