Nobody said agriculture isn't a messy business but it rarely causes such a stink as last week when a Pitt Meadows farmer spread manure on farmland.

That prompted hundreds of odour complaints in Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, and Langley on Sept. 6 and 7.

Staff in Metro Vancouver's environ-mental regulation and enforcement division investigated and issued a statement because there was such a huge public response.

The suspected source of the odour was mushroom manure recently spread on farmland located at the Pitt Meadows Regional Airport.

The farmer has finished applying manure and is tilling the manure into the soil, which should decrease odour emissions.

"We got quite a few complaints," reported Pitt Meadows Mayor Deb Walters. She said there were about 40 calls on Friday to the City about the unpleasant odour.

Kim Grout, director of operations with the City of Pitt Meadows, said normally farmers don't use mushroom manure in Pitt Meadows.

"[The smell] is very different - people were confusing it with natural gas," Grout said.

Metro Vancouver is continuing to monitor and assess odour impacts.

If residents want to provide information about how they were impacted by odours, they can lodge a complaint through Metro Vancouver's website at: www.metrovancouver.org. There is an air-quality complaints section under the services link.

Or, people can call 604-436-6777.