The president of the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture thinks the new Great Lakes Protection Act is redundant.
Pat Jilesen suggests most of what's in the new act is already in place through a number of other pieces of provincial legislation.
Jilesen is worried the act could create some confusion amongst regulators and agencies on how to implement it because of that redundancy.
He also sees the new act as creating more red tape for farmers and potentially creating another cost to food production in the province.
According to the Bruce Federation president, a lot of the situations the act is trying to deal with in the lakes are probably the result of practices which had been used in the past - but which don't reflect what's going on in Ontario agriculture today.
Jilesen argues farmers are now using what he calls 'incredible technology' to deal with soil and water issues.
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Pat Jilesen says most of what's in the act is already in place in other government regulations.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/JILESEN-Lakes-1.mp3"][/audio]
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Jilesen is optimistic there will be farmer representation on the Great Lakes Guardians' Council proposed as part of the act.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/JILESEN-Lakes-2.mp3"][/audio]
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Jilesen argues a lot of the situations we see now in the Great Lakes are the result of practices used in the past, but not currently in use on Ontario farms.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/JILESEN-Lakes-3.mp3"][/audio]
