Ian French

The applicant brought an application under the Farm Practices Protection Act complaining about the noise from a bird banger used by the respondent to protect their grape crop.

The Board found that it had jurisdiction to hear the matter as there was no evidence that the respondent's operation violated any land use control law or the Environmental Protection Act.

The Board concluded that the use of impulse acoustical bird scaring devices is a normal farm practice in the grape growing industry.

The Board ruled that the respondent's specific use of the bird banger is a normal farm practice, provided it is located at the northwest corner of the grapery, pointed westerly, and operated solely between dawn and dusk.