Board rejects Manitoulin couple's complaints about manure, flies from neighbour's farm

A working farm is going to produce some odours, an Ontario tribunal has ruled, rejecting odour and other complaints filed by a neighbour of a farm on Manitoulin Island. (File)

A working farm is going to produce some odours, an Ontario tribunal has ruled, rejecting odour and other complaints filed by a neighbour of a farm on Manitoulin Island.

According to the transcript from the Normal Farm Practices Protection Board, the couple complained about excessive manure and flies being generated by their neighbour's farm.

They bought the 25-acre property in 2011 with the plan of creating a place to retire.

"They have built a cottage, planted gardens, fruit trees and other trees," the transcript from the hearing said.

"They forage and hunt on their land."

Their farmer neighbour, 73, began working the land in 1968, and began working full-time there when he retired from his other job in 2017. He has 45 cows, 42 calves, three bulls and four horses.

Manure is piled up at the farm, and used to re-seed the fields, a process that prompted the complaint from the neighbours.

"The applicants’ allege that the fly population has increased to the level of a nuisance beginning in 2017 not long after their land use agreement ended with the respondents," the transcript said.

"The respondents had taken the hay from the applicants’ field and in exchange, the respondents had cleaned the snow from the applicants’ driveway and granted hunting privileges … The flies are a problem from late August until November."

The neighbours alleged that the farmer has increased the number of cattle and the amount of manure spread in the affected field and "provided videos and pictures of the flies in their cottage and on the sides of their cottage," the transcript said.

As a result, they said they can no longer process and dry produce in the cottage and must transport their produce back to their home, near Sudbury, to avoid flies from introducing bacteria onto the food.

They cannot enjoy sitting on their deck in the fall, have to deal with flies on their vehicles, trees and dogs. Plus there are flies in the garden on their fruit and vegetables "creating a threat of bacteria."

However, experts from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks and with the local municipality investigated the area and didn't find anything out of order.

And the farmer had other neighbours appear at the hearing, who testified that some odour and flies are expected on farms, "but nothing that would stop them from doing anything at their property."

In its ruling, the board said that a farm in its normal course of operating will cause some odour and flies. What needed to be determined was whether the manure and flies were excessive and unreasonable.

Considering nothing appears to have changed at the long-operating farm, and that other neighbours have no complaints, the board ruled the couple had failed to make their case.

"Considering all the factors, the board finds that the applicants have not shown substantial interference and discomfort which would not be tolerated by the ordinary occupier in their location," the transcript said.

"Consequently, the applicants are not persons directly affected by the disturbances alleged and this board has no jurisdiction to entertain their application to consider whether or not the Respondents’ operation is a normal farm practice."

Read the full decision here.