Larger farms and a lack of help in the spring have resulted in more western Canadian producers choosing not to apply fertilizer during seeding.
As part of the trend, growers are broadcasting phosphate in the fall to avoid the hassle of handling another product in the spring.
University of Manitoba soil scientist Don Flaten worries about the practice because it’s an “invitation to regulation.”
“If you do it, that’s up to you, there’s no law against it,” he told producers at Ag Days in Brandon.
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“But as farmers start doing it, I can just predict we’re going to end up with more regulations on fertilizer…. I am very concerned about it. Partly agronomically, but more so environmentally.”
Flaten pointed to Lake Erie as an example of how regulators could crack down on agricultural fertilizers. A huge algal bloom formed in Lake Erie last summer, and Toledo, Ohio, shut down its water system after toxic cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, were found in its water supply.
Media reports and environmental groups blamed farmers and agricultural runoff for the mess.
Flaten said Ohio is now talking about fertilizer application licenses to mitigate the risk of nutrient runoff.
“The environmental risk of broadcast P is quite high,” he said.
“It’s become very visible in the minds of regulators in North America…. I’d like to see us use our more typical and traditional environmental stewardship values…. Broadcasting phosphate fertilizer doesn’t seem to be in our long-term best interests.”
Contact robert.arnason@producer.com
