New water management regs are what Ontario's greenhouse growers envisioned: spokesman

Thursday, December 18, 2014

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario greenhouse growers wanting to apply their nutrient feedwater to farmland under the province’s Nutrient Management Act will have to fulfill a number of requirements as part of a new government regulation.

But a greenhouse industry spokesperson says the new Greenhouse Nutrient Feedwater regulation is what growers had requested. The provincial agriculture ministry released the new regulation Wednesday and it goes into effect Jan. 1, 2015.

George Gilvesy, Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers general manager, says “we asked for another tool for our growers to utilize so we’re pleased the government has recognized the need for this tool.”

Nutrient feedwater is the water and fertilizer solution growers use for their crops grown without soil. After reusing the mixture multiple times “the excess solution may no longer be optimal for growing greenhouse crops but can still have nutrient value suitable for other agricultural crops,” the government’s Dec. 17 press release says. The nutrient feedwater “can be recycled on agricultural lands to support plant growth.”

“The regulation provides eligible greenhouse growers with a new option to manage greenhouse nutrient feedwater in a way that enhances the protection of the natural environment and supports the sector’s sustainability through a streamlined approval process,” the release says.

In 2012, the organization applied to then agriculture minister Ted McMeekin to have the greenhouse vegetable sector regulated under the Nutrient Management Act.

Some of the requirements growers must meet to apply nutrient feedwater to farmland under the Nutrient Management Act are:

• All participating greenhouse operations must register with the provincial agriculture ministry.
• Management strategies for adequate and safe storage where needed must be developed.
• Land application plans must be approved by the provincial agriculture ministry.
• The proper transportation of nutrient feedwater must be tracked to agricultural operations.
• The nutrient feedwater and the soil it’s being applied to must be sampled.
• There must be training for farmers, transporters and crop advisers who work with greenhouse nutrient feedwater.

Justine Taylor, Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers energy and environment coordinator, says growers applying less than five nutrient units will just need to register with the provincial agriculture ministry. But growers applying more than five nutrient units will also need to provide the land application plan, storage management strategy and meet the other requirements. One nutrient unit is the fertilizer replacement value of the lower of 43 kilograms of nitrogen or 55 kilograms of phosphate.

In addition to farmland application under the Act, growers already have a number of other options to deal with nutrient feedwater not required in their greenhouses. They are:

• Apply it to farmland through an Environment and Climate Change Ministry Environmental Compliance Approval.
• Treat the feedwater and discharge it using a sewage works under an Environmental Compliance Approval from the environment and climate change ministry.
• Dispose of it offsite by using an approved waste hauler taking it to an approved waste disposal site.
• Discharge it to a sanitary sewer.

Taylor says the option growers mainly use now depends on a number of factors including their location. For example, a group of growers in Kingsville, in southwestern Ontario, have access to a municipal sewer system and can make use of that.

“Most growers would probably be looking at recirculating (the nutrient feedwater) very efficiently in their greenhouse,” she says, adding some growers recycle the feedwater indefinitely.

The government’s release says the new regulation supports Ontario’s Great Lakes Strategy, 2012, to reduce nutrient inputs into the environment. The regulation protects surface water, groundwater and soil by establishing a framework for managing, storing and land applying nutrient feedwater. The new regulation will enable growers to be exempt from having to get an approval for sewage works to manage greenhouse nutrient feedwater under the Ontario Water Resources Act. BF