A Ponoka farming group is making sure their voices are heard in court on the future of farming in Ponoka County.

The Ponoka Right to Farm society is fighting back after the county created a bylaw that prohibits where they can and cannot create new livestock farms.

A spokesperson for the group, John Hulsman explains that this creates hardships for farmers who would be looking to grow their operations.

“This Northwest Area Structure Plan, that they are implementing is arbitrary and it’s got a lot of loose ends on it,” says Hulsman, “if the county can do that kind of limitation in that area they can do that in anywhere in the county and that’s a big concern for us as operators.”

He says this affects a lot of families, whose kids would be looking to expand their operations onto new land. 

“If for example you’ve got an operation that you are running as a family farm and let’s say you’ve got a couple of children that want to take over farming, you need to move to one far away, “explains a frustrated Hulsman, “you can’t just go on a property that you maybe own a mile away and start a new operation.”

The bylaw was scheduled to go through court today (April 16,) but has been rescheduled for a date that has not yet been announced. 

More information can be found on the Ponoka Right to Farm Society Facebook page.