Check It Out: Fertilizer happens. Deal with it!

By Joan Janzen

I saw a mug with the words “Fertilizer happens. Deal with it!” Lately farmers are dealing with a new government policy to reduce nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer by 30 percent below 2020 levels, by 2030. The fact that it’s a goal, rather than a mandated ban doesn’t seem to alleviate farmers’ legitimate concerns.

Farmers realize the obvious: reducing nitrogen fertilizer will result in lower crop yields. In spite of responsible fertilizer practices employed by Canadian farmers, a news release from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada states, “Nitrous oxide emissions, particularly those associated with synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use have grown significantly. That is why the Government of Canada has set the national fertilizer emissions reduction target.”

Just about the time I was wondering what prairie farmers had to say about this policy, I came across comments made by Saskatchewan YouTuber Quick Dick McDick (QDM). He’s usually a funny sort of guy, but not this time around. This boots-on-the ground farmer had a few words to say about Trudeau’s new policy.

According to QDM, farmers are already reducing fertilizer use by increasing its effectiveness in several ways. First of all, they work with agronomists, in the areas of soil testing, rotations, nutrient management and chemical applications, to ensure the least amount of expensive inputs are used in order to get the most amount of output from the land.

This famous farmer raved about the new equipment and technology that has been made available to the agriculture industry. There’s equipment fitted with variable rate control, sectional control, guided by GPS for precise accuracy. Along with their local agronomists, producers estimate the right fertilizer, rate and price at the right time. QDM said, “And all this is already happening in Canada without the government’s interference”.

He shared how a four year rotation of alfalfa naturally returns nitrogen to the soil, which is then fed to cattle, who make manure, which is spread on canola and oil fields where 30 percent less nitrogen fertilizer is used. Added to that is a national greenhouse gas inventory report that is submitted annually to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The report covers human caused emissions by sources, and annual emissions estimates dating back to 1990. The formula used is: emissions equals fertilizer used times emissions factor.

As a farmer, he makes the valid point that government should be looking at how much food is produced rather than how much fertilizer is used. He also explained that a 30 percent reduction in fertilizer would be a $48 billion loss of agricultural industry by 2030, making food more scarce and more expensive.

Canada’s responsible for 1.6% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which is just a spit in the bucket of the overall GHG emissions. He noted the logical solution would be to liquefy our natural gas and replace coal fired power generation in places like China and India, which would reduce emissions globally by 30 percent.

In March, 2022, Trudeau said, “We’ve seen disruptions of supply chains around the world, which is resulting in higher prices for consumers and democracies, like ours, and resulting in significant shortages and projected shortages of food and energy in places around the world.” Unfortunately he forgot to add the most difficulty could be caused by his policies and his refusal to listen to wisdom from boots on the ground farmers.

QDM’s advice to the government was to get out of the way, and let farmers continue to responsibly do their job and manage their fertilizer use. “If you want to help global greenhouse gas emissions, ensure we have world market availability for our responsibly produced food, oil and natural gas.”

Trudeau could learn a lesson from Sri Lanka, a country experiencing an economic crisis, where the government completely banned chemical fertilizer. The government of Sri Lanka ignored all concerns expressed by agricultural analysts. Sound familiar?

There’s an old saying that says insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Meanwhile fertilizer keeps on happening. Deal with it.