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Nicholas Bannon, Daniel Schuurmann, and Alfons Weersink Despite the recent frigid temperatures and piles of snow, many Ontario farmers are beginning to prepare their budgets for the 2022 growing season. Each year, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) publishes Publication 60, a tool to help farmers prepare their budgets. This is an annual guide that details cost estimates across a variety of field crops and allows an individual farmer to input

Nicholas Bannon, Daniel Schuurmann, Alfons Weersink, and Ken McEwan While overall inflation is at its highest level in 30 years, this rate of increase is dwarfed by the huge increases in global fertilizer prices over the last year. Ontario farmers were not immune to these price increases, and most farmers likely noticed a dramatic increase in their input costs in 2021 compared to 2020. The reason for the price increases in fertilizer is due to several global events occurring

Daniel Schuurmann and Alfons Weersink A report[1] released in late September claimed Canada’s emissions targets on fertilizer could cost farmers over $48 billion by 2030. The report by the consulting firm Meyers Norris Penny (MNP), prepared for Fertilizer Canada, came in response to Environment Canada’s climate plan which set a target to reduce emissions from fertilizer by 30% below current levels. The cost of emission reductions from fertilizer is proxied in this report by t

By Nicholas Bannon, Sean Mitchell, and Alfons Weersink Fertilizer Canada implemented the 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification Program (Right Source, Right Rate, Right Time, Right Place) in response to the growing concerns such as increased algae blooms in the Great Lakes and greenhouse gas emissions associated with fertilizer use in agriculture. This is initiative is designed to educate agri-retailers and growers across Canada about the best management practices in fertilize

This article was written by Nicholas Bannon and Alfons Weersink and was originally posted on farms.com. Rather than simply examining total amounts of fertilizer farmers apply per province, we should consider application rates. In recent articles, we have explored changes in fertilizer usage over time across Ontario. Although the acres of Ontario cropland receiving fertilizer have only changed slightly, the estimated fertilizer use doubled between 2008 and 2018. This finding l

This article was written by Nicholas Bannon and Alfons Weersink and was originally posted on farms.com. Our recent article explored the changes in Ontario acreage on which farmers applied nutrients between 1971 and 2016. Aside from an increase in the area of application in the 1970s due to an expansion in the amount of corn planted, the area of application remained constant in the subsequent years. But has the total amount of fertilizer applied changed? Efforts such as the 4R

This post was written by Nicholas Bannon and Alfons Weersink and was originally posted on farms.com. Fertilizer use in agriculture is under increasing scrutiny largely due to environmental concerns associated with emissions into the air (nitrous oxide) and the water (nitrates and phosphates). Algae blooms in Lake Erie are an example of the effects of excess nutrient runoff and the concerns have sparked the implementation of initiatives such as the 4R nutrient management progr