Farmers fined for slope violation

Two P.E.I. potato farmers were found guilty Fridayin provincial court of cultivating land where the slope is too steep.

Alex Docherty and Blake MacDonald were charged after an investigation last year involving land in the Kingston area. Both had entered pleas of not guilty.

Under the watercourse and wetland protection regulations of the Environmental Protection Act no person can cultivate a row crop on land with a slope greater than nine per cent without an approved management plan.

The farmers were fined $3,150 each.

Alex Docherty is the husband of provincial Community Affairs Minister Valerie Docherty. Last year she recused herself from any cabinet discussions involving buffer zone legislation.