Farmers worried emission targets could impact crop yields if fertilizer use is reduced

Farmers worry climate change action targets set by the federal government will lead to a decrease in food production.

Fertilizer is an essential element which helps many crops flourish, but the use of them emits greenhouse gas emissions. Ottawa wants those emissions reduced by 30 per cent in fewer than eight years.

“(Fertilizer), you know, provides the food that the crops need to produce the grain that we sell,” said Charles Fossay, who is a farmer.

“You can’t really grow a big crop to allow us to export grain and provide food security to Canadians, and also ask us to reduce the use of fertilizer we have.”

The federal government says the application of nitrogen fertilizer results in nitrous oxide emissions, a potent greenhouse gas.

The feds have set the emissions target for 2030 and launched a consultation process on how to achieve this goal.

A report by Meyers Norris Penny for Fertilizer Canada says doing this would require a 20 per cent drop in fertilizer use, which would impact yields.

“Emission targets will compromise a farm's ability to produce food,” said Sylvain Charlebois, a researcher at the Agri-Food Analytics lab at Dalhousie University.

In a news release, Manitoba’s Agriculture Minister Derek Johnson says the benchmark is based on broad assumptions and will lead to higher food prices.

“A reduction in nutrients would also make increasingly expensive groceries even more costly and pose a risk to Manitoba jobs in agriculture and food processing,” the statement said.

On the federal government’s website, it says it’s not looking to mandate a reduction in fertilizer use, but instead it wants to find ways to improve the management of nitrogen and make use of fertilizers.

With practices that some farmers are already doing, Fossay says he believes there may be ways to meet the target, as long as everyone works together and the plan is flexible.

“We don’t want to have the government come out with ‘here’s how you’re going to do it, one way, that’s the only way,’” said Fossay.

The consultation period runs until Aug. 31.