Agricultural Operation Practices Amendment Act, 2025*

Summary#

Bill 44 updates Alberta’s Agricultural Operation Practices Act. It modernizes definitions, adds new materials like digestate from biogas, and clarifies how local land-use plans are considered. It also shifts some powers from the provincial board to front-line staff, and gives the public more time to be heard.

• Replaces “composting materials” with a broader term, “organic materials,” and defines “digestate” (leftovers from anaerobic digestion/biogas).
• Updates what counts as composting and what facilities and equipment fall under the rules.
• Requires approval officers to consider municipal and intermunicipal development plans (plans made between neighboring municipalities), with limits on using certain local tests for large livestock sites.
• Extends the window for people to apply as “directly affected” and expands who can apply.
• Moves some authority from the Board to approval officers and inspectors (e.g., cancellations and enforcement orders).
• Lets the Minister create codes, standards, and guidelines, and allows regulations to adopt them, including future updates, if they’re made public online.
• Takes effect on a date set later by the government (by Proclamation).

What it means for you#

• Farmers and ranchers

  • More materials are covered: “organic materials” now includes farm organics (not carcasses), digestate from biogas, and other materials the regulations may allow.
  • Storage and handling rules now clearly apply to organic materials and their runoff, not just manure and compost.
  • You still must apply manure, organic materials, and compost according to the regulations.
  • Approval officers, not the Board, can now cancel approvals or registrations; inspectors can issue and amend enforcement orders.

• Operators of composting or biogas facilities on farms

  • Composting is defined more clearly as a controlled, aerobic process with a hot (“thermophilic”) phase.
  • Digestate from anaerobic digestion is now explicitly regulated.
  • Equipment used to manage manure, organic materials, or compost may be tested or operated as directed during inspections.

• Neighbors and community members

  • You have more time (20 working days after an application is deemed complete) to ask to be considered “directly affected.”
  • Any member of the public can apply to be directly affected, not only those who were notified or viewed the file.
  • Municipal and intermunicipal development plans must be considered in approvals. But specific local tests or conditions about where to put large livestock sites or how to apply manure/organic materials cannot be used at this stage.

• Municipalities and intermunicipal partners

  • Approval officers must now consider applicable intermunicipal development plans, in addition to municipal development plans.
  • During reviews, the Board must have regard to both plans but is not bound by them.

• Regulators and industry

  • The Minister can issue codes, standards, and guidelines and post them online; regulations can adopt these, including future updates.
  • Inspectors can act more directly on risks and releases, including emergency orders.

Expenses#

No publicly available information.

Proponents' View#

• Brings the law up to date with modern farm practices like biogas, by adding digestate and broad “organic materials.”
• Speeds up compliance and enforcement by letting inspectors and approval officers act without waiting for Board decisions.
• Gives the public a clearer, longer window to participate, improving transparency.
• Reduces confusion by fixing wording so applications must be consistent with local plans, and by adding intermunicipal plans.
• Lets technical rules live in codes and standards that can be updated faster and posted online.

Opponents' View#

• Shifting power from the Board to staff may reduce oversight and formal, public decision-making.
• Allowing the Minister’s codes and standards to be adopted “as amended from time to time” could change rules without new regulations or legislative debate.
• Using the broader term “organic materials” and allowing other materials by regulation could open the door to more types of inputs, which some may see as risky.
• Local control remains limited: specific municipal or intermunicipal tests for siting large livestock operations or applying manure/organic materials cannot be considered in consistency checks.
• More enforcement discretion for inspectors could lead to uneven application across regions.