Linda O'Neill

The applicants applied to the Normal Farm Practices Protection Board regarding a noise disturbance caused by the respondents' use of a propane-fired cannon ("bird banger") to protect their horticultural crops from deer.

The cannon was operated intermittently between 8:30 p.m. and 7:30 a.m.

The Board found that the applicants were directly affected by the noise disturbance, which deprived them of sleep and the normal use of their home.

The Board determined that operating the cannon between sundown and sunup is not a normal farm practice, as it violates Ministry of the Environment guidelines and is not a standard practice among similar agricultural operations.

The respondents were ordered to cease operating the cannon at night, though daytime operation within Ministry sound limits was deemed a normal farm practice.

The applicants sought a determination from the Normal Farm Practices Protection Board that a tire fence constructed on their property constituted a normal farm practice, exempting them from a municipal by-law prohibiting such fences.

The Board found that the applicants were not 'farmers' under the Farming and Food Production Protection Act, as their property was a hobby farm not operated in expectation of gain or reward.

Furthermore, the Board determined that even if the applicants qualified, tire fences are not a normal farm practice due to significant health, safety, and environmental concerns, including the promotion of mosquito breeding and fire hazards.

The applicant sought a determination that the Minimum Distance Separation (MDS) requirements of a municipal zoning by-law restricted its ability to carry on a normal farm practice by preventing the expansion of its swine operation.

The by-law required a doubling of the MDS because the proposed expansion was near a municipal complex.

The Normal Farm Practices Protection Board found that the existing operation was a normal farm practice.

The Board held that the proposed expansion as originally sited was not a normal farm practice, but would be if modified to comply with the standard MDS without the doubling factor, given the site-specific circumstances including the prior establishment of the farm and the restrictive nature of the institutional use in an agricultural area.