The Island agriculture community has a valuable new resource to help producers maximize the return from on-farm waste, while minimizing its impacts on the environment.
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Mitch Murphy and Minister of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment Chester Gillan have announced the publication of a new booklet entitled Best Management Practices - Agricultural Waste Management.
The publication is a practical guide to handling on-farm waste. It covers all sectors and a broad range of issues including livestock and poultry waste management, milkhouse waste, livestock pasturing, waste forage, seepage from farm silos, dead stock disposal, management of potato and other vegetable waste, and farm plastics.
"This booklet is about giving farmers the information they need to consider environmental impacts when they are making business decisions," said Minister Gillan. "It demonstrates that while responsible waste management is about doing what is good for the environment, it is also, quite simply, smart business."
Minister Murphy added the Agricultural Waste Management booklet reflects the goals of the PEI Food Strategy. At the heart of the strategy is establishing a competitive advantage for Island products by marketing them as premium quality products, produced using environmentally sound practices.
"Island producers are investing significant time and resources to improve the sustainability of their operations, and adopting best management practices in handling agricultural waste is one element of that," said Minister Murphy.
"This booklet will help producers examine the environmental risks associated with some waste management practices and compare management and facility options for handling waste."
The Best Management Practices booklet was funded under the Canada - Prince Edward Island Water Annex to the Federal/Provincial Framework Agreement for Environmental Cooperation in Atlantic Canada. Participating agencies included the PEI Departments of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment and Agriculture and Forestry, as well as Environment Canada, and Agriculture and Agrifood Canada.
Canada's Environment Minister David Anderson congratulated members of the agriculture industry in Prince Edward Island for taking up the challenge to make their operations more sustainable.
"No matter what industry you are in, sustainable business practices are good business in today's competitive marketplace. Consumers want to encourage those who minimize the impact they have on the environment versus the economy," said Minister Anderson.
"This booklet will assist Island farmers by providing better and more accessible information on best practices."
Best Management Practices - Agricultural Waste Management will be distributed to all livestock producers in Prince Edward Island. Copies will also be available from the Departments of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment and Agriculture and Forestry as well as Island Information Service (368-4000 or 1-800-236-5196). The booklet is designed to be used as a companion document to the Environmental Farm Plan workbook developed by the Atlantic Farmers Council.
BACKGROUNDER
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES - AGRICULTURAL WASTE MANAGEMENT
Agriculture is the largest contributor of any resource sector, to the economy of Prince Edward Island. It is also a large generator of waste materials.
Best Management Practices - Agricultural Waste Management is a practical guide to help agriculture producers maximize the benefits and minimize negative impacts of handling waste. The booklet looks at the environmental risks associated with some waste management practices, describes management and facility options for dealing with waste, and compares the potential impact of various options.
Best management practices, or BMPs, integrate principles of production, business goals, sustainability and environmental quality in farm resource management systems. The Best Management Practices - Agricultural Waste Management booklet advances the position that management that puts into practice the four Rs - reduce, reuse, recycle and recover - is the best first option: reduce the amount of waste produce generated; reuse the waste product on the farm or provide it for others to use; after reducing and reusing as much of the waste product as possible, recycle the product either on-farm, such as with land application of manure, or off-farm, such as with plastic recycling programs; recover methane gas from manure waste;
The document is presented in four sections. The introduction outlines the environmental challenge presented by agricultural waste management and introduces how best management practices can be used on the farm to protect, conserve and reuse resources while minimizing negative impacts on the environment.
A large section of the booklet is devoted to livestock and poultry waste management. The first part of this section deals with manure management practices. It explores the nature of the resource, environmental risks associated with manure management, various options for storage facilities, adequate separation distances, land application of manure, BMPs for odour management, manure treatment options and fly control.
This section of the document goes on to explore issues involved in the handling of milkhouse wastewater - the environmental concerns, best management practices which reduce the waste volume and strength, and the advantages and disadvantages of various handling and treatment options.
The livestock and poultry waste management section also includes a chapter on livestock pasturing which addresses health and productivity concerns, impacts on watercourses, best management practices to reduce these impacts, and alternate watering systems used by Island farmers. The final chapters in this section deal with waste forage, seepage from farm silos, and dead stock disposal.
The third section of Best Management Practices - Agricultural Waste Management is devoted to potato/vegetable waste management, while the final section deals with proper disposal of farm plastics, most notably pesticide containers, and other waste such as animal health care products, farm building materials, old machinery and equipment, and used oil.
Throughout the book, photos and diagrams illustrate best management practices at work, while charts and tables serve as a quick reference on topics such as timing of manure application and relative odour offensiveness, typical waste strengths for milkhouse washwater, and mix ratios for potato composting.
The province provides technical and financial assistance to agriculture producers, through the Agriculture and Environmental Resource Conservation Program (AERC), to implement some of the best management practices discussed in the Best Management Practices - Agricultural Waste Management booklet. Designed to assist producers in making their farm operations more productive and sustainable, while achieving compliance with any new or existing environmental protection legislation, AERC is an important component of the PEI Food Strategy. Projects eligible for funding under the program include manure storage, alternate watering systems for livestock, milkhouse waste management systems, and dead stock composting facilities.
Best Management Practices - Agricultural Waste Management was funded under the Canada - Prince Edward Island Water Annex to the Federal/Provincial Framework Agreement for Environmental Cooperation in Atlantic Canada. It is one of two best management practices documents produced under the agreement which deal with agricultural activities that impact on the environment. The companion document, entitled Best Management Practices - Soil Conservation for Potato Production, was released in 1998. Copies of both documents are available from the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, the Department of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment, and from Island Information Service.