Water and Intensive Livestock Operations

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Water and Intensive Livestock Operations

• Competitiveness Initiative Steering Group Meeting
• November 27, 2007

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Quick outline

• Provide water insights from a producer/ILO
  perspective
• Intensive Livestock Working Group
• Top 6 water related issues for the livestock
  industry
• Recommendations of what the sector should
  consider to address those issues
• Top 6 opportunities for the industry

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ILWG

• Eight livestock commodity organizations
• Working in collaboration share information,
  develop common positions and explore actions of
  interest
• Need for input into policy and action
• Increase industries capability to deal
  effectively on environmental issues

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Water is a priority

• Other concerns Air and land (including the
  interaction of these with water), cumulative
  effects, and community relationships
• Wetland Policy
• Water licensing
• Knowledge specifically groundwater
• Governance of water Watershed groups
• Capacity to deal with water issues effectively

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Closer look at the issuesWetland Policy

• Appropriate policy goal Minimize loss?
  Maintain? Increase?
• Concerns with increased competition for land and
  loss of productive land
• Role of ephemeral wetlands that are difficult to
  identify and regulate

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Water Licensing

• License transfer process is unclear and overly
  onerous
• Based on political negotiations versus clear
  rules and guidelines
• Costly to producers
• Reporting and monitoring fear of water metering
• Large amount of non registered, non licensed
  users

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Knowledge (Groundwater)

• Availability approaches must be scientific, not
  just based on where its being used.
• Reporting and monitoring is costly
• Do we have enough knowledge to prove the risks to
  groundwater quality from CFOs is minimal.
• Connections to surface water

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Water governance

• Does the livestock industry have the capacity to
  effectively address water issues? (Alberta Water
  Council, Watershed Planning and Advisory Councils
  and Watershed Stewardship Groups)
• Can the truly be a partner in the shared
  governance of water
• Share the responsibility to develop policy and
  deliver programs and services. Collaborate on
  finding solutions to water issues. Accountable to
  the achievement of those results
• Can they afford not to be a partner?

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Opportunities

• Growth of the industry will depend on access to
  water and public recognition of ecological goods
  and services
• New ways to create and capture value from
  stewardship
• Need to be engaged in existing processes,
  increase level of understanding of the issues and
  build capacity in the industry to find
  solutions.

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1. Agri-Environmental Partnership

• Investment reaches over 50 million annually in
  Alberta
• Work in partnership with industry and government
  to identify priorities, direct resources,
  anticipate issues, collaborate
• Strategies to Capture Opportunities
• Measure progress
• Coordinate align
• Bring economics and competitiveness to
  environmental stewardship
• Enable producers to not only sustain but also use
  natural resources needed for agriculture
  production
• Recognize, value and balance societal values with
  industry growth and competitiveness
• A safe and secure water supply for agriculture
  production will be a key theme of the AEP
  strategic plan

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Livestock Agriculture Sector Conservation,
Efficiency and Productivity Plans

• Need to reduce regulatory costs (licensing,
  monitoring, testing) so that livestock producers
  can make technological changes (adopt BMPs) to
  improve water use efficiency
• Difficult to plan when there is a lack of
  knowledge need to find a way to encourage all
  operators to register or license water use
• Need clearly defined rules with an effective
  mechanism to transfer licenses
• Need for Albertans to set priorities on water
  use careful consideration given to higher
  value markets as well as social acceptability or
  environmental benefits
• Potential for a hierarchy of water uses with a
  graduated payment (caps) on license transfers

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• Carrie Selin
• cselin_at_albertamilk.com
• 780-577-3340