The rationale for the target was made clear by Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food Canada Marie-Claude Bideau in 2021 comments to her European counterparts. She described Canada’s measures as “very closely aligned” with the fertilizer reduction target in the European Union’sstrategy — as part of which the Dutch government has committed to reduce nitrogen emissions from fertilizer use by 59 per cent via a 7.5-billion euro farm buyout scheme.
Farmers who object to Canada’s target emphasize that conditions here are unique. For many years, groups like Fertilizer Canada have promoted a “4R Nutrient Stewardship” program that calls on farmers to apply fertilizers at the “right source, right rate, right time and right place.” Farmers argue Canadian practice is already the “gold standard” when it comes to sustainability.
Farmers ask why the government doesn’t think they already have incentives to use fertilizers efficiently, given the doubling of their price over the last two years. They also find fault with 2020 as a baseline: it ignores progress made from large investments in soil health and fertilizer efficiency that have helped increase crop production by 70 per cent since 2006.on behalf of Fertilizer Canada of the potential loss to farmers if the fertilizer target were met by reducing crop yields.