Producers can turn to OMAFRA if they face ire from neighbours over normal farm practices
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Routine farm work can be loud, smelly and dirty, which can sometimes cause tensions with neighbours.
In an effort to solve these conflicts, OMAFRA’s Farming and Food Production Protection Act, 1998 (FFPPA) established the Normal Farm Practices Protection
Board (NFPPB).
The group resolves disagreements about agricultural operations and determines what constitutes normal farm practices. The board aims to balance the needs of Ontario’s ag community with provincial health, safety and environmental concerns.
The FFPPA protects farmers and their operations from complaints, whether they be about smell, noise, dust, flies or smoke, so long the disturbance results from normal farm practices.
The act is also applicable if municipal bylaws restrict normal farm practices.
“Primarily… the act aims to protect the right to farm … so that, when we have people move into rural areas, they don’t get upset by smells or noises or agricultural traffic on the road,” Keith Currie, president of the OFA, tells Farms.com.
“You can’t sue us because we have the combine beside your house on a Saturday afternoon and you have people over and you’re mad that we’re making noise and dust.”
Everyone should understand the act, Currie says.
“Agriculture is the number one industry in this province and the agri-food industry is the number one employer… In order to be able to maintain and increase that industry viability, you have to allow people to do what they need to do,” he says.
“99.9 per cent of people are fine with it but, every once in a while, you run into someone who doesn’t like it, so the act was brought in to protect farmers,” says Currie.
The FFPPA covers seven common farming disturbances: odour, noise, dust, flies, smoke, light and vibration. Prior to filing an official complaint, OMAFRA encourages the complainant to speak directly with the farmer. If, following this, the issue has not been resolved, either the farmer or the protestor can consult his or her local Municipal Agricultural Advisory Committee, municipality or OMAFRA.
At this point, a representative from the municipality may try to assist or he or she may turn the matter over to an agricultural engineer or environmental specialist with OMAFRA, who will assist with conflict resolution. If this effort is unsuccessful, the next step is an application for a hearing through the NFPPB.
Producers can reach out to the Agricultural Information Contact Centre at 1-877-424-1300 or ag.info.omafra@ontario.ca for more information about normal farm practices and the conflict resolution process.
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