What do the regulations say about reviews?
The nutrient management regulations require all operators who own or control a farm operation, for which there is a nutrient management strategy or plan, to review that strategy or plan on an annual basis. Records must be kept of the review for inspection or compliance purposes.
Why is this important?
The strategy or plan is updated to ensure that it accurately reflects the anticipated operation of the farm unit during the upcoming year. Farmers are required to know how much manure they produce annually, the days of storage capacity in the farm unit and how to anticipate challenges or problems that could occur. Changes in livestock numbers will affect the manure volumes and weather patterns will change crop plans and the timing of manure applications. The fall of 2008 was a great example of the importance of anticipating challenges and documenting changes to manure applications in the annual review. The wet fall and early winter of 2008/09 prevented many farms from making planned manure applications after harvest of the corn crop. The annual review for 2008 would have accounted for the additional manure to be spread in spring 2009. For some farms, the wet weather created a storage problem and a situation where a contingency plan of winter spreading was required to prevent manure storages from over-flowing. These contingency manure applications should have been documented by the farm operation in their records and available for inspection purposes.
Who can prepare the review?
The regulation states that the farm operator must create and keep a record of the annual review on the farm but does not indicate specifically who has to prepare them. Some farm operations have chosen to utilize the nutrient management consultant, who prepared the original strategy and plan, to do the annual review. The consultant completes this work as a "value-added" service to their client - the farm operator. The consultant may have an ongoing business relationship with the farm for crop recommendations, soil sampling or other professional services. The costs associated with theses services vary widely depending on the level of service provided.
What information needs to be included?
There is no set format for the annual review, and the farm operator has great flexibility in terms of how they want to do the record-keeping. They may already have some records that would assist or suffice, such as crop yields, fertilizer applications, manure applications and transfers to other farms. This information demonstrates that the manure is being applied in an agronomically and environmentally sound manner.
OMAFRA publishes a Field Pocket Guide, which farm operators may find useful in recording and tracking nutrient management and cropping activities. To order a copy, please see the link listed below.