An editorial on page 10 of the Nov. 2 Western Producer referred to this op ed.
Canada has a target to reduce fertilizer-related greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030. As farmers take steps to reduce those emissions, they will become increasingly interested in alternatives, including non-fertilizer supplements that can sustain yields, improve soil health or provide other benefits while reducing GHG emissions relative to those from conventional fertilizers.
In addition to potential emission reductions, farmers can save money. Fertilizer prices are high and volatile. Non-fertilizer supplements may provide money-saving alternatives to conventional fertilizers and create price-disciplining competition for the companies that produce conventional nutrients. Giving farmers options can increase margins.
Read Also
Downturn in grain farm economics threatens to be long term
We might look back at this fall as the turning point in grain farm economics — the point where making money became really difficult.
But there’s a problem: though the marketplace offers an array of non-fertilizer supplement products, and while most claim to enhance fertility or boost yields, there is no organized independent testing. Farmers have no way to know which claims are credible — no way to make cost-benefit decisions. In the supplement market, it’s the Wild West.
The solution? The federal government must reinstate comprehensive testing and data reporting.
Here’s how it could work: companies could be required to conduct multi-year, multi-site field trials where their product is applied beside a control plot (where their product isn’t applied).
The companies and their scientists and technicians could measure the effects on yield or disease prevalence or whatever benefits they claim for their supplements. They could then submit the results of these trials to the federal government, which would scrutinize, verify and publish the results. This would give farmers a clear picture of the actual benefits, if any, of these non-fertilizer supplements.
If the preceding sounds familiar, it should. It is similar to the system that existed in Canada for years, but was discontinued in 2013, a victim of budget cuts. Although Canada terminated its system, many other agricultural regions maintained comprehensive testing and reporting, including the states of Kansas, Iowa, Texas, California, and also the European Union.
Re-establishing testing and reporting in Canada is crucial to bringing credibility to the non-fertilizer supplement market — crucial to building trust and to laying the foundations for increased adoption by farmers.
The benefits of testing are three-fold. First, some products will be revealed to be ineffective and these can be removed from the market. A second benefit would be in identifying products that do work and measuring their effectiveness. This would give farmers confidence to invest in and use these products. A third benefit is that these products could augment or replace conventional fertilizers, potentially lowering GHG emissions while maintaining yields.
Some will object that requiring multi-year, multi-site testing will slow introduction of new products. It need not. We could allow companies to introduce and market products on an interim basis ahead of testing, and perhaps give them three or four years to complete tests and submit results for verification. This way, farmers could have immediate access to innovative products, but in just a few years’ time, all products on the market would be tested and all claims verified and benefits quantified.
Others may argue that government oversight isn’t needed — that farmers can try the products themselves and come to their own conclusions. That won’t work. Farmers cannot try each product to determine what works and what does not. And a single trial by a farmer in a single field is inconclusive.
The NFU has written to federal agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay requesting he reinstate comprehensive testing and reporting.
We are collaborating with other organizations to build a coalition for the reinstatement of independent, multi-site, multi-year efficacy testing for non-fertilizer supplements.
Farmers deserve to know what works. Government can help.
Murray Jowett is policy co-ordinator with the National Farmers Union.
