Ken Hunsberger, a dairy farmer from the Baden area, says the
Waterloo Region and the Grand River Conservation Authority have developed
excellent relationships with farmers.
He said what’s happened in the Waterloo Region could serve
as a valuable lesson for other parts of the province as they grapple with new
Sourcewater Protection Committees that will have a powerful hand in protecting
drinking water.
Hunsberger sits on the Lake Erie Sourcewater Protection
Committee and said that while it’s proving to be an expensive exercise, so far
it has not been the iron-fisted threat that some farmers feared.
Other farmers on the committee are David Parker of Belwood, north of Guelph, and Mark Wales, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture who farms near the eastern end of Lake Erie.
The legislation certainly provides plenty of clout to
intrude on where and how farmers manage their land if it’s within protection
zones for municipal wells or water intakes from rivers and lakes.
But in the Waterloo Region, officials take a gentle,
cooperative approach, listening to farmers’ views when they tackle their goals
of protecting drinking water and the environment.
For example, Hunsberger said he hasn’t heard one farmer in
the Waterloo Region complain about the draft plan the Lake Erie Sourcewater
Protection Committee has posted for public comment in the Grand River
watershed.
He said cash cropper Roland Cober, who farms land next to
one of the Waterloo Region’s main site for wells south of Mannheim, was
approached by staff who sat down with him to explain what the proposed plan
might mean for his farming in the area.
“He told me he was really impressed with how they handled
matters,” Hunsberger said of Cober’s experience.
“If any farmer is going to have issues, it’s going to be
him,” he said because the land he farms is adjacent to such crucial wells for
Kitchener and Waterloo.
There are some municipal wells in the Waterloo Region that
are under close watch because nitrate levels have crept up close to the
tolerance threshold of 10 parts per million.
Those wells tend to be drilled in sandy land where high
levels of nitrogen have been applied, as is normal, to grow corn.
The Waterloo Region has been putting money into farm
subsidies for more than a decade to improve environmental practices and protect
drinking water.
The Grand River Conservation Authority has administered the
money and programs, doling it out for projects such as manure storage, fencing
along streams, planting trees and developing soil conservation structures and
systems.
Building on that experience, other municipalities such as
Guelph, Wellington County and Brant County have also put money into similar
programs administered by the Grand River Conservation Authority.
Hunsberger said there is also an excellent working
relationship with the planners for the Waterloo Region.
“They ask to come and meet with us (the Waterloo Federation
of Agriculture) when they have something they’re dealing with,” he said.
When asked, he said the relationships with the Waterloo
Region are far better than with the staff of Wilmot Township, where he farms.
He said Wilmot Township officials have never asked for input from the Waterloo
Federation of Agriculture, even though a majority of its directors farm in
Wilmot Township, nor have they been receptive to requests to discuss issues.
Wilmot Township is notorious for cracking down hard on
gatherings in barns, roadside signs for on-farming marketing and building
permits.
Hunsberger said what has happened, and is unfolding, in the
Waterloo Region could serve as a good lesson for other parts of the province
where farmer attitudes about Sourcewater Protection Committees have been far
positive.
