Ontario Nitrogen Fertilizer Use Climbing

There appears to have been a significant increase in the amount of nitrogen Canadian farmers have been putting on their land over the past five years.

Statistics Canada data on fertilizer shipments to Canadian agricultural markets suggest 20 per cent more nitrogen was shipped in 2013-14 than was shipped in 2009-10.

The increase from 2012-13 to 2013-14 was 4 point 6 per cent.

Here in Ontario, the use increased even more.

Statscan shows a 95 per cent increase over that five-year period – from 23 thousand metric tonnes to 45 thousand.

The 2012-13 to 2013-14 increases was 7 per cent.

Those numbers include shipments to Canadian producers, wholesale distributors and retail distributors.

The agency summed the percentage of each nutrient from the shipments of all fertilizer products to come up with those figures.