Better Farming – September 2016

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BetterFarming.com

Better Farming

September 2016

CROPS:

YIELD

MATTER$

think everyone in the agriculture

industry has heard of, or is talking

about, 4R Nutrient Stewardship.

The farm-level field-specific ap-

proach to nutrient management

consists of choosing the right prod-

ucts and applying them at the right

rate, in the right place and at the

right time to minimize the size of the

environmental footprint, optimize

harvested yield and maximize

nutrient utilization.

In 2015, a memorandum of

cooperation was signed by Fertilizer

Canada, the Ontario Agri Business

Association, farm-producer associa-

tions such as Grain Farmers of

Ontario, and the Ontario Ministry of

Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

The memorandum recognizes that

the 4R Nutrient Stewardship ap-

proach integrates the sustainability

goals of participants and stakeholders

and is a good voluntary industry

initiative to curb nutrient losses into

surface waters.

Economic, environmental and

social sustainability pillars influence

the 4R principles of choosing the right

source, rate, time and place. On-farm

actions relating to 4R, therefore,

should involve the following steps:

■

Embrace practices that improve

economics on farm in a measur-

able manner,

■

Address and document environ-

mental initiatives and concerns,

and

■

Adequately address and com-

municate social benefits to the

community at large.

Goal setting on the farm becomes

ever more important. Setting targets

involves documenting current

practices by identifying areas for

improvement, putting in place a

Putting 4R nutrient stewardship into practice

The industry-devised approach to nutrient management is a hands-on method of ensuring strong

yields and the best performance from your inputs while reducing your environmental footprint.

Here are some suggestions on how to implement 4R on your farm

by DALE COWAN

written step-by-step implementation

plan, documenting the progress and

results and evaluating them and,

finally, adopting a process of continu-

ous improvement.

In reality, on most progressive

farms these activities are part of

normal business planning and

practice. The only difference with the

4R approach, perhaps, is more detailed

documentation of the components

that support 4R principles.

To facilitate the initial effort of a

4R Stewardship approach, a farmer

might consider choosing one or more

performance indicators for either

adopting or changing a farming

practice. The choice can provide a

focus or framework for implementing

changes.

Some of the performance indica-

tors are listed below (there are many

and farmers can choose their own):

■

Yield,

■

Quality,

■

Phosphorus loss reduction,

■

Nitrogen use efficiency,

■

Carbon credits,

■

Value to crop input ratio –

dollars produced for dollars spent,

■

Reduction in field soil and

nutrient loss, and

■

Soil health.

As an example, a farmer might

choose to look into improving

nitrogen use efficiency. Under the 4R

principles the farmer would first

identify a field with which to work.

Assessing current nitrogen (N)

application best management practic-

es and comparing those to the present

practices used in the field would be

the next step. Then the farmer would

evaluate the choice of products used.

This step includes investigating

protected N sources, looking into

Economic, environmental and social sustainability pillars influence the

4R principles of choosing the right source, rate, time and place.