Spatial Trends in Barn Building Permits

This paper presents an overview of the trends in building permits issued for livestock facilities between 1996 and 2001 for 42 municipalities in the livestock intensive region of southwestern Ontario. Most of the permits were issued for barns less than 100 livestock units. Most of the permits for large facilities (larger than 500 livestock units) were exclusively for hog farms. There was no spatial concentration of large facilities away from townships with requirements for a nutrient management plan before building permit approval. Instead, new and expanding barn facilities are being built largely in the traditional livestock production regions. Ontario is currently undergoing a transition from local regulation of livestock facilities to a provincial system. The new regulatory framework will not change the continued concentration of production.