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Better Farming Ontario Featured Articles

Better Farming Ontario magazine is published 11 times per year. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


It wasn't the chickens that did it

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

A Maryland farm family and the contract company for which it grew chicken were vindicated of charges that they polluted a tributary of a river flowing into nearby Chesapeake Bay.

On Dec. 20, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that a New York-based environmental group had not proven that chicken manure from 80,000-bird barns owned by Alan and Kristin Hudson ran into a drainage ditch and polluted the Pocomoke River. According to the Baltimore Sun, the judge ruled it was far more likely that the manure came from 42 cows that roamed on the 300-acre farm. The charges were brought by a local Waterkeeper Alliance affiliate, which asserted that manure was blown into the ditch by the barns' ventilation fans.

Chicken industry groups were worried that a guilty verdict might set precedents across the nation with regard to shared responsibilities between contracting companies and their growers. Nearly $500,000 was raised in a defense fund.

According to a press release from the National Chicken Council: "The violation was based on a pile of material on the property that was erroneously assumed to be chicken manure, but was instead municipal sewage sludge from Ocean City, Maryland, that was used to fertilize crops.  The Maryland Department of the Environment inspected the farm, confirmed the pile was biosolids, asked the Hudsons to move the pile, and the Hudsons complied." The complaint that chickens were to blame came after that. BF

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June/July 2025

Better Farming Magazine

Farms.com Breaking News

Ontario crops respond to summer heat

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

According to the OMAFA Field Crop News team, Ontario field crops are showing rapid development as summer-like temperatures have dominated late June early July. The warm spell has accelerated growth and helped reduce the heat unit deficit from a cool spring. Corn fields have seen a burst... Read this article online

Canada’s Place in Global Food System Resilience

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

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Calf Auction Raises Funds for Youth

Monday, June 30, 2025

Wyatt Westman-Frijters from Milverton won a heifer calf named Ingrid through a World Milk Day promotion by Maplevue Farms and a local Perth, Ontario radio station. Instead of keeping the calf, 22-year-old Westman-Frijters chose to give back to the community. The calf was sent to the... Read this article online

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