Gary Roberts

The applicants, who operate a swine farm, challenged portions of a municipal bylaw that restricted intensive livestock operations by capping facility size at 500 livestock units, requiring 1 tillable acre per 1.5 livestock units, and mandating that 66% of the required land base be owned by the livestock operator.

The Normal Farm Practices Protection Board found that the applicants' proposal to house 750 livestock units on one site and to manage manure through a Nutrient Management Plan (NMP) constituted normal farm practices.

The Board concluded that the bylaw's absolute cap on livestock units, its arbitrary acreage ratio, and its strict ownership requirement restricted normal farm practices in contravention of the Farming and Food Production Protection Act.