AG

Last winter, the then-new Liberal government announced that responsibility for compliance with the Nutrient Management Act (NMA) was being transferred to the Ministry of the Environment (MOE). Ontario Ministry of Agriculture & Food (OMAF) staff would not be "first on the farm" as farmers had hoped.

This caused quite a stir in the agricultural community, with farmers feeling betrayed. A significant cornerstone of farmers' acceptance of the NMA rested on trust in OMAF compliance staff being knowledgeable about agriculture.

Bad news stories about MOE staff using heavy-handed approaches in other industries abounded. Farmers worried about how much, or how little, MOE staff would know about agriculture.

MOE has responded to these concerns admirably. A Nutrient Management Working Group was created joining MOE and OMAF staff with Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition (OFEC) members. Following a few meetings of the MOE with OFEC and its working groups, this new Working Group has now met twice.

Its purpose is to "engage the agricultural community in discussion and dialogue regarding the development of the MOE's Nutrient Management Act compliance program" with the mutually important goals of ensuring smooth implementation and high rates of compliance.

What an opportunity! Agriculture can now build a relationship with a ministry with which it has had little previous involvement, a ministry with increasing relevance and importance to farmers as Justice O'Connor's recommendations, such as source water protection, are defined and implemented.

We have been given the opportunity to assist MOE in developing its communications tools, staff training program, incident response procedures, and inspection protocols.

There are three important facts that the agricultural community needs to know about the MOE and its proposed approach.

First of all, the six Agricultural Environmental Officers (AEO's) changed from being OMAF staff to MOE staff on April 26. These staff members have had a great deal of experience not only in environmental matters, but agriculture as well. These are the same six people that would have been "first on the farm" had compliance remained with OMAF.

Secondly, agriculture has its own compliance officers. These AEO's are specifically trained to deal with agriculture. They are separate and distinct from the Environmental Officers used for compliance for all other industries. Very few other industries have their own specific compliance staff.

Thirdly, the MOE has always had jurisdiction over the Environmental Protection Act (EPA), the Ontario Water Resources Act (OWRA), and the Pesticides Act. font-style:normal'>Prior to the NMA, an MOE Environment Officer already had the ability to show up on a farm to enforce these other three acts. For example, MOE Environmental Officers, not OMAF staff, would have dealt with liquid manure spills, which are addressed under the EPA or OWRA, and improper pesticide use or storage, addressed under the Pesticides Act. Now these will largely be dealt with by AEO's trained to understand agriculture.

This new Working Group has the ability to address what farmers were concerned about with respect to MOE taking over NMA compliance - lack of knowledge of agriculture and an unknown MOE approach to compliance. Yet, we get to keep the positive part of this change - increased public trust in the Nutrient Management Act.

Most importantly, we have the opportunity to develop an important new partnership with an increasingly important Ministry.