Council for the Rural Municipality of Ritchot has given approval for a farmer south of Ile des Chenes to expand his chicken broiler operation.

Mayor Chris Ewen says the owner of Falkdale Farms would like to make improvements to his site, while at the same time creating space for additional birds. The applicant needed conditional use approval and Ritchot council was unanimous in granting it.

(Ritchot Mayor Chris Ewen)Ewen explains the expansion is almost a complete rebuild, seeing as their barn was built in the 1960's. He notes they want to make improvements and essentially expand the operation by adding a couple thousand more chickens to their business. After the expansion, Falkdale Farms will have enough space to accommodate nearly 29,000 birds.

"It looks like a promising endeavour for this business," says Ewen.

According to Ewen, there are residences living nearby this operation and in fact, a group of residents attended the public hearing. But he says none of them was there in opposition.

"They look forward to the growth around the area that they live in," explains Ewen. "It was great to see some people there that weren't there to oppose, I really appreciated that."

Ewen says the group of residents had questions but they were mostly interested in learning more about the project. He calls it refreshing to see people interested in what is happening down their road.

Ewen says he really isn't surprised there was no opposition. He notes Falkdale Farms has probably been in operation for at least 60 years and has a reputation for running a great business and farm.