That would be in addition to the planted area recently projected by Statistics Canada, as nitrogen-based fertilizers have seen price hikes of 30 per cent since the start of the current Middle East war. Vessels transiting the narrow Strait of Hormuz to and from the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf have come to a stop, which threatens global supplies.

On Feb. 27, nearby urea futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were nearly US$442 per tonne and then jumped to US$590 by March 3. Since then, urea has fluctuated with crude oil prices, closing on March 9 at US$585/tonne.

Pulses add nitrogen

Risula said in a March 10 interview that switching to pulses would make sense due to the nitrogen benefits they provide.

“But it may not be as much as one might think because there are other aspects that could influence farmers’ decisions,” he added.

He said farmers’ crop rotations would be a major consideration as well as concerns over root rot, which has been a problem for pulse crops in Saskatchewan.

Of the choices for additional pulse acres, Risula said the most likely would be lentils. Another selection he said farmers would consider is chickpeas.

“They’re growing it away from the area it was intended for, which was the drier part of southwest Saskatchewan,” he said, noting there are more chickpea varieties available.

StatCan recently forecast a 13.3 per cent increase of planted chickpea acres in Saskatchewan for 2026/27 at 559,100.

Phosphorus issues

As for lentils and peas, Risula cautioned these pulses require good phosphorus levels, which is currently a problem in the province.

“Generally, our soils have been running down in phosphorus levels,” which he said are cyclical.

That would also mean farmers would have to consider the costs to applying phosphorus where levels are lower than normal and its availability. While urea process have risen significantly, those for phosphorous are up only five per cent.

StatCan planted and forecast pulse acres in Saskatchewan

Pulse 2025/26 2026/27

Lentils 3,808,600 3,643,900

Dry Peas 1,773,000 1,479,300

Chickpeas 493,400 559,100

Faba Beans 15,300 29,800

Dry Beans 8,600 n/a

– With files from Sean Pratt, Glacier FarmMedia

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Shares fell more than two per cent in extended trading.

The Tampa, Florida-based fertilizer producer warned in January that an unusually sharp decline in North American fertilizer demand during the quarter would pressure sales and cash flow.

Demand for fertilizers has been under pressure as farmers cut nutrient use amid tight budgets, while an early onset of winter shortened the application window.

Sales volumes in the Phosphates segment fell to 1.3 million tonnes from 1.6 million tonnes a year earlier, the company said.

Global shipments could reach record levels

Phosphate markets have tightened as Chinese exports remain largely absent after Beijing extended its phosphate export restrictions, Mosaic said, adding that it expects restrictions to stay in place through at least the first half of the year.

“Like phosphate, potash prices have shifted higher, and current expectations suggest global shipments could reach record levels in 2026,” Mosaic added.

The company said it expects full-year phosphate production volumes to be at or above 7 million tonnes and potash production volumes to be about 9 million tonnes.

Mosaic forecast first-quarter phosphate sales volumes of 1.7 million to 1.9 million tonnes and potash sales volumes of 2.0 million to 2.2 million tonnes.

It also forecast capital spending of about $1.5 billion (C$2.06 billion) for the year.

The company reported adjusted earnings of 22 cents per share for the quarter ended December 31, compared with analysts’ average estimate of 47cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

— Reporting by Katha Kalia and Sumit Saha in Bengaluru

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Yield loss isn’t the real risk, says Chris Holzapfel, senior soil scientist with the Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation (IHARF). More accurately, it’s about stand establishment, so “safe” phosphorus rates are less about protecting yield than about managing stand loss. The tipping point of that trade-off between nutrient and risk to the stand varies from field to field.

WHY IT MATTERS: With input costs putting pressure on slim profit margins, farmers want to know that the fertilizer decisions they make for the coming spring have the best chance of paying for themselves.

Holzapfel’s work, outlined at the 2025 Manitoba Agronomists Conference in December, spans three Saskatchewan sites (Scott, Indian Head and Melfort) and several trial results. It found that canola didn’t yield less with seed-placed phosphorus, but there could be fewer plants. Depending on soil, moisture and fertilizer blend, there could be much fewer plants.

Canola, however, has a knack for filling in the gaps of a lean plant stand.

Counting up yield

More than a third of sites showed no yield response to phosphorus at all, despite less than impressive soil test phosphate. Most places went into the trial with moderate soil test levels, roughly 15 to 20 parts per million of phosphorus. Where yield responses did occur, they varied in size and consistency.

Some site-years showed a modest, fairly linear yield response to added phosphorus. Others did not respond at all, even where soil test phosphorus was relatively low.

“In some cases the yield response was pretty strong. In some places it was small,” said Holzapfel. “In some cases it wasn’t there at all, but never negative.”

The lesson, says Holzapfel, is that phosphorus doesn’t always behave predictably, and low soil test values don’t guarantee a yield response in a given year.

But one thing was true across all sites: there was no negative yield impact when comparing unfertilized checks to fertilized treatments.

The type of phosphorus also yielded only a few bushels to the acre difference, suggesting source mattered less than placement and overall fertility strategy. Melfort was one exception. There, pure struvite performed poorly over two site-years. Blends did better.

Holzapfel couldn’t say exactly why the Melfort data stood out, but it’s another reminder that local conditions can override expectations.

“I don’t really know what it is about this site,” he said

Stand loss rises with rate

When emergence data was averaged across all sites, higher seed-placed phosphorus rates were generally linked with modest declines in plant stand density. Differences among fertilizer forms existed, but they were smaller than differences driven by rate and site conditions.

Some phosphorus sources appeared gentler on emergence when seed-placed, but that didn’t automatically translate into yield advantages. Canola compensates by branching and filling in the canopy later in the season.

That’s an important distinction, conference attendees heard. Establishment and yield don’t always move together.

Soil and location matter

Trials at all three sites also highlighted just how sensitive outcomes can be to soil texture, pH, organic matter and moisture.

At Indian Head — a higher pH site with more moderate organic matter — no emergence issues were observed with side-banded phosphorus across all tested rates. Seed-placed phosphorus reduced plant counts as rates increased, but stands generally started strong and tolerated the stress better than at other locations.

Results from Scott told a different story. Plant populations were lower to begin with, and seed-placed fertilizer, especially when ammonium sulphate was included, appeared to have an impact.

“As soon as they threw that ammonium sulphate into the seed row, right off the bat they lost a fair number of plants,” he said.

Those plots showed the kind of damage Holzapfel would expect from too many ammonium salts concentrated in the seed row, although he could not say for certain that salt stress was fully to blame.

Where is the real seed risk?

A farm’s acceptable risk to seed-placed phosphorus depends on field conditions and management goals, attendees heard. Farmers will want to weigh factors like:

• soil texture and moisture,
• pH and organic matter,
• fertilizer form,
• whether other products, like sulphur, are included in the seed row, and
• how much stand loss a grower can tolerate.

Work cited by Holzapfel supports a conservative approach: Side-banding is still the most reliable way to apply higher phosphorus rates without risking emergence.

Seed placement can work at modest rates under the right conditions, but the margin for error is narrower, especially on sensitive soils or in dry springs.

Holzapfel added that farmers should be cautious of marketing campaigns promising a silver bullet when it comes to phosphorus. While newer products may offer handling or seed-safety advantages, long-term fertility still comes down to applying enough phosphorus, in a safe way, to maintain or build soil fertility.

“Remember, you are not only fertilizing the crop, but also the soil.” he said.

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According to Stephen Case, chief executive officer and president of Fox River Resources, Canada has become completely reliant on phosphate sourced from other countries like the U.S., Russia and Morocco. He’s advocating to have the Martison Phosphate Project developed at a site northeast of Hearst, Ont. to alleviate Canadian reliance on phosphate from those other jurisdictions.

Dating back to the early 2000s, Canada sourced its own phosphate, most of which came from Redwater, Alta. At the turn of the century, that plant could generate up to 700,000 tonnes of monoammonium phosphate (MAP) per year, part of a near one-million tonne market for MAP across Western Canada. Through the years, it produced under the names Agrium, Sherritt Gordon and Veridian, among others. But with the formation of Nutrien, the phosphoric acid plant was converted to an ammonium-sulphate (AMS) production facility.

Since the mid-2010s, Canadian phosphate usage has pushed the industry into complete dependence on the U.S. and other imports. With the onset of the war in Ukraine, Canadian farmers were forced to pay higher short-term prices for phosphate from that part of the world.

“We’re now a two-million tonne market and two things have happened in the past 20 years,” says Case. “Agrium had a fixed number of tonnes they would produce per year, but the western Canadian market and Ontario’s continued to grow and they have essentially doubled consumption in the past 10 years.”

At the same time, U.S. supply has been declining since the early 1990s, from a high of about 48 million tonnes in 1991 to a little under 20 million in 2022. There is the possibility that Nutrien’s White Springs, Florida facility will close later this decade or earlier, due to a lack of phosphate reserves. That plant has produced 500,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid, but its closure will only worsen the North American shortfall of phosphate.

A solution

Case’s bid is a two-pronged approach. First, get phosphate on the 2024 Critical Mineral List (CML), a move which would help get the Martison Phosphate Project up and running. Projects like Martison require billions of dollars to build and it will need access to government support that comes with being on the critical mineral list.

“It accesses infrastructure funding, tax credits and possibly government guarantees,” says Case. “The federal government’s also involved in streamlining the permitting process to reduce the timelines for critical minerals. It’s all of those things that make it easier to get this developed — and it should be on the list — potash is, and clearly, if you look at the criteria for critical minerals, one of the aspects is food security.”

Getting phosphate on the CML can also affect the level of infrastructure support with Indigenous participation, a jump to 75 per cent compared to 50 per cent for non-Indigenous interests.

One key strategic advantage of the Martison Phosphate Project is that it originates from igneous rock versus sedimentary sources which contain higher levels of cadmium. Within the last 10 years, cadmium has become a trade issue among EU importers of cereals and other foods. Again, with increased demand for production of crops across the country, Case says it’s counterproductive to apply lesser-quality phosphate to farmland when there is a better, made-in-Canada solution.

What’s needed is the drive to get it into production.

Case also says the focus on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for the electric vehicle market could divert attention from food and fertilizer.

The size of the Martison Phosphate Project is unknown at this time and although there may be enough ore to fill both markets, the two are definite competitors.

“Part of what we’re talking about is predicated on the fact that the U.S. is running out of rock and the rock they do have is of poor quality,” adds Case.

“If we don’t do something about this, we’re going to be paying more for something we shouldn’t be.”

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Though the winter nutrient ban has been lifted, the province cautioned producers to “assess current weather conditions and periodically check weather forecasts” if they’re applying anytime between now and April 11.

“Nutrients should not be applied in instances where the weather outlook is unfavourable,” the province said — for example, “a forecast of snow or an appreciable amount of rainfall that would result in runoff.”

All other manure management regulations are still in effect, the province added, such as the ban on applications on “sensitive lands along waterways” and on lands classified as Nutrient Management Zone N4.

Typically, the province’s ban on winter application of nitrogen and phosphorus, including manure, is in place between and including Nov. 10 of one year and April 10 the following year — with variances where conditions allow.

The regulation was put in place in 2008 as application of nutrients onto frozen or snow-covered soils “results in an increased risk of nutrient runoff” into Manitoba waterways, which in turn increases algal blooms in Lake Winnipeg and elsewhere. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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University of Guelph researchers reached the conclusions by analyzing multiple years of data collected by the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority during in-person interviews with farmers in the Gully Creek Watershed, near Bayfield, about 80 km northwest of London.

Jennifer Leslie analyzed the data, which included 16 farms of various sizes over a six-year period, ending in 2011.

There is concern with phosphorus contributing to algae growth in Lake Erie. The International Joint Commission, which works on Great Lakes health issues, estimates agriculture is responsible for 44 per cent of phosphorus contribution.

Most of the phosphorus comes from the U.S., but there is significant working happening on the Canadian side to find best management practices to reduce phosphorus going into Lake Erie. Canada and the U.S. have set a goal of reducing phosphorus loads to Lake Erie by 40 per cent in the next decade.

Leslie points out that the Gully Creek Watershed, where the study was conducted, drains to Lake Huron, not Lake Erie. However, Lake Huron itself flows into Lake St. Clair and then into the western basin of Lake Erie where there is most concern about algae.

Leslie, whose thesis advisor was Alfons Weersink, did the analysis from a Lake Huron watershed because there was no similar depth of data available from a Lake Erie watershed. In order to create wide-ranging policy, a broader study is needed, she said.

Leslie recorded how much nitrogen and phosphorus farmers applied to corn and winter wheat fields and compared it to the recommendations that would come from OMAFRA’s NMAN software, which helps determine what nutrient requirements should be supplied to a crop.

“In case of phosphorus in corn and winter wheat, there are statistically higher application rates. In almost every case, on every farm, every field we saw a rate higher than NMAN rate,” said Leslie, who has completed her master’s degree and is now working as a research assistant at Guelph.

In winter wheat, the overapplication of phosphorus compared to NMAN rates was 47.28 per cent, and for corn, 37.83 per cent.

Larger fields also received higher rates of phosphorus than smaller fields. The same was true of larger farm operations.

“We couldn’t go talk to farmers, but I would assume that larger farms are sole-income. They are relying on the crops for income,” and so they took no risks with being low in phosphorus.

The researchers looked to see if they could find a profit- and yield-maximizing rate that justified more application, but did not find it.

In the case of nitrogen, however, farmers applied only slightly higher rate in corn and winter wheat than was recommended by NMAN, almost four per cent for corn and a bit more than five per cent for winter wheat.

Leslie, who has a background in agronomics, said phosphorus is less expensive than nitrogen, it is applied in smaller increments and its correlation with yield is less understood than nitrogen. As a result, it costs farmers little more to apply insurance phosphorus.

Farmers apply around 200 lbs./ac. of nitrogen on corn, but phosphorus application may only be 15 lbs./ac. It doesn’t cost much more to add five more pounds, but that would be a 30 per cent increase. The extra phosphorus comes out of a farmer’s profit and it also comes at an environmental cost, so there’s little to encourage overuse of the nutrient.

However, farmers may say, “If my livelihood is based on this, then I’m going to go with my gut,” said Leslie.

NMAN is required to be used by farmers who operate under nutrient management plans, especially livestock farms, but there were no farms in this watershed that were required to use application rates based on NMAN.

Leslie’s research was published in 2017 in the scientific journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment.

— John Greig is a field editor for Glacier FarmMedia based at Ailsa Craig, Ont. Follow him at @jgreig on Twitter.

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None of the numerous recommendations are particularly new or surprising and mostly call for using existing funding programs to encourage certain production practices.

Recommendations include programs under the next federal/provincial agriculture policy framework that would encourage phosphorus reduction strategies from a whole-farm, multi-BMP (best management practice) approach.

The plan, posted March 10, calls for Ontario to continue to support development of a 4R strategy, led by industry, encouraging farmers and applicators to apply the right source of nutrients at the right rate, right time and right placement.

The continually growing greenhouse sector, especially in the Leamington area, is believed to be a source of increased phosphorus and it’s recommended that the province continue working with greenhouse growers to encourage nutrient recycling and reduce phosphorus levels in discharges to watercourses flowing to Lake Erie.

Several programs have already been created to encourage best management practices already, including the Great Lakes Agricultural Stewardship Initiative and its Farmland Health Checkup program, as well as the Environmental Farm Plan program and nutrient management plans.

The action plan recommends the harmonizing and streamlining of programs to create a whole-farm approach versus piecemeal programs addressing different parts of farm operations.

Other program recommendations include the planting of more trees, restoring native habitats including wetlands and riparian habitat, while focusing efforts on priority watersheds where phosphorus loadings are high and natural cover is low.

Other recommendations include encouraging dam owners to explore managing dams to reduce phosphorus outputs, and for public lands to be managed to minimize phosphorus losses.

Algae blooms in Lake Erie have been creating greater concern, especially in wet years. Most of the problems affect U.S. cities and most of the phosphorus entering the lake also comes from U.S. watercourses.

The federal-provincial plan says about “84 per cent of total phosphorus loads and 82 per cent soluble reactive phosphorus loads to Lake Erie are contributed by the United States, with smaller contributions from Canadian sources.”

There are concerns that a proposed Trump budget in the U.S. that slashed environmental programs includes a potential 97 per cent cut to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The Canadian plan is available for comment on the Ontario Environmental Registry website until May 9.

— John Greig is a field editor for Glacier FarmMedia based at Ailsa Craig, Ont. Follow him at @jgreig on Twitter.

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Provincial Finance Minister Cameron Friesen on Thursday introduced Bill 24 for first reading. Among its 15 proposed amendments to various pieces of legislation, the bill would repeal two sections of the Environment Act dealing with hog operations and winter manure spreading.

The previous NDP government introduced the freeze on new hog barn construction and expansions in certain areas of the province starting in 2006, expanding provincewide in 2011, with the stated aim of reducing phosphorus loading in Lake Winnipeg.

The province’s ban on winter spreading of manure from Nov. 10 to April 10 each year was imposed in 2013, also with the stated aim of reducing phosphorus runoff into waterways.

The province has said it imposed the winter spreading ban because applying nutrients onto frozen or snow-covered soils “results in an increased risk of nutrient runoff” which in waterways “contributes directly to algal blooms in Lake Winnipeg and elsewhere.”

In its press release Thursday, the province said Bill 24 would “remove general prohibitions from the Environment Act for the expansion of hog barns and manure storage facilities.”

Those prohibitions, in section 40.1 of the Act, require a provincial permit before a hog barn or hog manure storage can be built. It also prevents a hog operation from increasing its animal unit capacity.

Permits for new barns or storage would be granted only if the manure would be treated via anaerobic digestion or “another environmentally sound treatment that is similar to or better than anaerobic digestion.”

The province and Manitoba hog producers agreed in 2015 on a pilot project that would allow new barns to be built to certain environmental requirements, such as two-cell manure lagoons and limits on soil phosphorus.

Mike Teillet, manager of sustainable development at Manitoba Pork, said Monday the province’s proposed bill will “eliminate the need for impractical and extremely costly anaerobic digesters to build a pig barn in Manitoba.”

That provision, he said, “essentially stopped barn construction in the province and that is why it was often referred to as a ‘ban’ or ‘moratorium.'”

The digesters also “would have done nothing to protect the environment,” he said — and cutting that requirement is thus “a sound and practical action by the Manitoba government.”

Bill 24, as introduced Thursday, also orders a repeal for section 40.2 of the Act, which covers the winter manure spreading ban. In an “explanatory note” attached to Bill 24, the government describes the prohibition on winter manure spreading as “eliminated.”

However, Manitoba Pork’s Teillet said Monday, the ban’s inclusion in Bill 24 serves only to remove a “redundant” section of the Act that remains part of the province’s Livestock Manure and Mortalities Management Regulation, thus keeping the winter manure spreading ban in effect.

Manitoba Pork, he noted, “has never asked the government to remove the winter spreading ban” and the province’s hog producers remain “committed to environmentally-sound production practices.”

In introducing Bill 24, Friesen said Thursday the status quo “has created unnecessary challenges for both industry and government.”

The bill’s assorted proposals, he said, “were identified as priority actions by both industry leaders and the civil service” and will “reduce the red tape that is creating burdens on business, non-profits, municipalities, private citizens and government officials.” — AGCanada.com Network

UPDATE, March 20, 2017: A previous version of this article stated Bill 24 proposed to eliminate Manitoba’s ban on winter manure spreading. The article has been updated to include additional information from Manitoba Pork.

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The Wigle Creek subwatershed, west of Leamington, has turned into ground zero in long-term research on how farmers can reduce phosphorus running into the lake. Phosphorus from various sources, including farm fields, is being blamed for an increase in algae growth in Lake Erie.

The watershed is perfect for finding a baseline for phosphorus levels in the soils and how they run to the lake, says Denotter, who recommended it to the Essex Regional Conservation Authority (ERCA) for its Priority Subwatershed Project.

The subwatershed project is part of the Great Lakes Agricultural Stewardship Initiative which funds changes to agricultural practices in watersheds that feed into Lake Erie.

The funding for the project is into its third year and the last intake for the project was in the late fall.

Projects gobbling up the entire funding were submitted in about the first five minutes, said Chris Snip, a certified crop advisor with Agris Co-operative. He is based at the Agris office in Cottam and was interviewed at the Chatham-Kent Farm Show.

Farmers who have got funding to help with new equipment have generally bought or modified equipment to more precisely place fertilizer or to strip till crops.

The starting point for farmers is a farmland health checkup, which involves working with a certified crop advisor to look at erosion, organic matter, soil health, soil chemistry and phosphorus levels.

Those who complete the free checkup are then eligible to apply for funding to improve best management practices. Farms in a subwatershed project are available for even greater funding — up to 80 per cent of projects.

That has allowed almost every farm in the Wigle Creek subwatershed to conduct soil tests, providing an extensive benchmark of phosphorus levels across the area.

Denotter said during an interview at the farm show that “the greatest thing about the watershed program is that we need a baseline.”

The Wigle Creek is already part of a monitoring program as part of a project to monitor greenhouse runoff. It has no greenhouses feeding water into its watershed, so serves as a baseline to other area watersheds.

Denotter, a past president of the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA), has taken the funding he’s received and purchased a Salford 2000 variable rate fertilizer cart that allows him to place fertilizer more precisely. They no longer broadcaster fertilizer. He’s also customized a John Deere air seeder for precision fertilizer and seed placement.

Denotter says he and his family are conservationists and that he’s motivated to reduce his runoff of phosphorus because “I don’t like to see green water,” in the lake.

The second largest farmer in the watershed, he was an early adopter of no-till farming and was recognized in January by the conservation authority with its education award.

The other large farmer uses a lot of plowing, he noted, so the subwatershed is a good place to compare phosphorus movement and tillage practices.

The program has expanded the number of farmers who are soil testing, said Snip, who has been helping lead the Agris work on phosphorus reduction because of a personal interest: He lives near the lake.

Snip was recognized by Agris parent co-op Growmark with one of its Endure 4R Advocate awards last year, one of four winners in North America.

The 4R nutrient management program is a certification program that encourages the reduced and proper use of fertilizers across North America. About 10 per cent of Ontario certified crop advisors are certified under the 4R program, said Snip. The Agris board of directors recently adopted a 4R Stewardship pledge.

The GLASI program is administered by OSCIA.

— John Greig is a field editor for Glacier FarmMedia based at Ailsa Craig, Ont. Follow him at @jgreig on Twitter.

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When not managed properly, nutrients from fertilizer and manure make their way into creeks, lakes, dugouts, and other water bodies. But a new tool to help mitigate phosphorus run-off risk will soon be available.

Over the past three years, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry and the Intensive Livestock Working Group (an alliance of eight of Alberta livestock and poultry organizations) have been collaborating to build a simple, personalized farm management decision-support tool designed to help manage phosphorus run-off. The Alberta Phosphorus Management Tool, expected to be available in late spring, is a free, Excel-based tool for assessing phosphorus run-off risk. The tool will also provide producers with management solutions that include both a relative cost and environmental efficacy ranking.

“The idea behind this tool is to help producers prioritize where they could invest their time, energy and/or resources to manage phosphorus and run-off,” said provincial water research specialist Jennifer Kerr. “Multiple beneficial management practices (BMPs) might be recommended based on a producer’s answers to the questionnaire. Obviously, you can’t necessarily change environmental or geographic factors, but you can change things like how much manure you apply to a field or what time of year cattle have access to a riparian area.”

Based on answers to the producer questionnaire, the tool provides a variety of customized recommendations.

“A producer might choose to implement simple, inexpensive recommendations to address their risk, while other situations may require a more complex solution,” said Kerr. “Compared to doing nothing, even a small change is better.”

Some recommendations — such as soil testing to determine nutrient levels before applying manure or fertilizer in order to limit overfertilizing — reduce run-off while also saving money.

Over the longer term, the plan is to offer producers additional resources and support to help them best manage run-off. Currently, the project team is putting together a producer website with links to additional tools, information, and resources (including grant opportunities).

Any information provided by farmers will be kept strictly confidential and won’t be shared with other agencies, Kerr said.

“Our priority is all about finding solutions,” she said. “As we were developing this project, we thought about different options and versions of this tool, including the idea of having farmers complete the questionnaire online. But if we went that route, we’d have to be really careful about where any producer information was stored for security reasons. And we know we’d lose some producers’ willingness to complete the tool because they would be concerned their information was tracked.

“So in the end, we designed it as a downloadable document that you save to your own computer, so you have total control over it.”

The tool is also designed to be user friendly and real-world applicable. The questionnaire drop-down menus make completion simple, and all analysis and calculations are completed via the tool’s embedded calculators and algorithms.

To date, the tool has been tested by at least 10 producers in two study watersheds,” said Kerr. “Everything from the questions asked, to the recommendations offered, to the layout and operation of the tool itself have been vetted by and adjusted according to producer feedback.

It’s hoped the tool will be widely used.

“The vast majority of farmers is extremely environmentally conscious,” said Kerr. “For them, choosing to use this tool will be just another aspect of their environmental planning. For those who are slower to respond, they need to consider that social licence is becoming a very important aspect of agricultural producers’ businesses, and environmental stewardship is a key component of that.

“Alternatively, farmers can seek support from agricultural extension staff, agrologists, or others with strong environmental and production understanding to help develop run-off risk mitigation strategies.”

While the Alberta Phosphorus Management Tool won’t be available for a few months, a companion resource guide is available now at www.agriculture.alberta.ca (search for ‘phosphorus management guide’).

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