In an effort to establish a set of consistent standards and requirements for fertilizer alternatives in Ontario, the Ministry of the Environment has introduced new rules that apply to nutrients called non-agricultural source materials (or NASM) that allow farmers to use nutrients such as yard waste, fruit and vegetable peels, food processing waste, pulp and paper biosolids and sewage biosolids for growing crops instead of fertilizer, which inevitably contaminates well water.

According to the Ministry of Environment, NASM applied to farmland must meet strict criteria and are beneficial to the soil at every farm to protect the environment and the health of Ontarians. New odour categories have been developed based on materials and their odour potential, ensuring proper application and separation from dwellings and other buildings depending on the strength of the odour.

"We have made significant changes to the requirements for applying organics to land. We have added new standards and improved others to protect human health, crops, the environment and Ontario’s water supply," Ontario environment minister John Gerretsen said. "What is not changing is the ministry’s compliance and enforcement activities. Our inspection process will help to ensure that materials are land applied according to our standards."

In a 1996 study at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food Research Station in Elora, ministry scientists examined "nitrate leaching" from farmlands where manure is spread. They ultimately found that Ontario farms were applying more manure than they need to, in fact, benefit their crops.

"The application of animal manure at excessively high rates or the combined application of high rates of manure and nitrogen fertilizer increases the potential for nitrate accumulation in soil and contamination of surface water and groundwater," reads the study.

A study of well water quality in Ontario for Agriculture Canada in the 90’s sampled groundwater on 144 sites on multiple levels. It found that that 44 per cent of the sites had nitrates in excess of Environment Canada’s limit for safe drinking water. The presence of excess nitrates could lead to clinical methaemoglobinaemia (blue baby syndrome) and stomach cancers, according to the ministry. Furthermore, the application of animal manure also results in a dramatic increase in faecal coliform counts.

With approximately three million Ontarians depending on wells for their supply of drinking water, nitrates leaking into drinking water should be a major concern for nearly a quarter of the province’s population.

With the new regulations, the Ministry of the Environment will continue to conduct compliance and enforcement activities related to the NMA, EPA and Ontario Water Resources Act.

In addition, farmers accepting nutrients, haulers carrying it and those that generate NASM are now regulated by either the Nutrient Management Act (NMA) or the Environmental Protection Act (EPA), not both. This removes an overlapping approval process.

Leona Dombrowsky, minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, said the new NASM rules continue Ontario’s long tradition of supporting the logical use of quality organics in farming. "We are taking a science-based approach to put standards in place under the Nutrient Management Act to protect public health and the environment," Dombrowsky said. "The use of non-agricultural source materials benefits farmers since it provides for options other than fertilizers, and it benefits Ontarians by keeping these materials out of landfills."

According to the ministry, "Category 1" materials such as vegetable culls will not require a NASM Plan, however, agricultural operations handing smellier waste must file a NASM Plan, similar in design to the existing Nutrient Management Plans (NMP), which detail how nutrients are to be applied to a given land base. Unlike NMPs, however, a NASM Plan deals only with the fields where NASM is applied and not the whole farm unit.

While these new regulations offer alternatives to manure, it remains to be seen if NASM replaces the traditional cow dung that threatens drinking water.