Environment: Farmers score well on performance-based nutrient management inspections

Friday, May 30, 2008

Though only a small percentage of farms with Nutrient Management Plans have been inspected by the Ministry of the Environment, most have scored well with 74 per cent exceeding provincial expectations

by SAM BRADSHAW

The Ministry of the Environment is taking a new approach to nutrient management inspections.

Trevor Robak, the divisional program specialist with the Ministry of the Environment, Southwestern Region, was instrumental in setting up this new inspection program and has been working with members of the Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition (OFEC) to create a process which focuses on education and outreach, rather than strictly enforcement.

They just released their review of the 2006/07 inspection results at a meeting with the Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition (OFEC), Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), and Ministry of the Environment (MOE). The MOE reported that "farms generally did well with 74 per cent of farms having an inspection score that exceed provincial expectations."

Responsibilities under the Nutrient Management Act are shared between OMAFRA and the MOE. OMAFRA looks after training, certification of consultants, approvals and registration of strategies and plans. The MOE is responsible for incident response, inspections, compliance and enforcement.

OFEC was involved in their new approach to inspections and helped in planning the following protocols:
- Inspections will be as flexible as possible and focus on compliance assistance rather than enforcement.
- The officers will use a scoring system rather than a pass/fail process.
- Dedicated staffs – Agricultural Environmental Officers (AgEOs) – perform the inspections.

The MOE knew that farmers would be concerned that it would be conducting inspections, as opposed to OMAFRA. The ministry was also aware that environmental programs for farmers have historically been focused on voluntary and funding-based approaches and not a regulatory approach. On a practical level, farms are quite large, geographically distributed and difficult to inspect. Farmers also often have little time for paper work.

The MOE's stated new purpose for conducting Nutrient Management inspections is to improve a farm's environmental performance through the adoption of practices which reduce the overall risk of an adverse effect that may affect human health and the environment.

This new approach ensures that inspection approaches are flexible and based on risk by using an approach which divides a farm's nutrient management system into "control points," which are inspected individually using customized modules. These modules are tailored to each specific farm, but can include the following control points.

- Storages (in-barn and external tanks/pads);
- Transfers to/from storages;
- Field application;
- In-field storage;
- Outdoor Confinement Areas (OCAs)
- Processing/treatment.

The assessment of the farm now works on a scoring system, rather than using a pass/fail approach. This allows for a more complete and effective evaluation of a farm's nutrient management practices. It also creates a system which encourages operations to go beyond compliance and openly acknowledges them when they do.

Environmental performance of the farm is measured using a scoring system ranging from one to 100. Under this scoring system, better nutrient management practices move the score up; non-compliance items move the score down; and site-specific circumstances move it up or down.

The scoring system sets a baseline for minimal compliance at 70 out of 100, allowing  substantial room to acknowledge beyond-compliance efforts. Farmers appreciate knowing when they are doing better than required and are interested in how they can improve their scores further. Implementation of better management practices that go beyond compliance requirements are reflected in the overall score for the inspection.

The MOE is also looking to work with OFEC and OMAFRA to implement a high performers recognition program in nutrient management for those operations that score exceptionally well during an inspection.

An inspection report based on an academic report card is used to communicate the results to the farmer. It also contains details of which parts of the farm are doing well and which  could be improved. It also identifies what changes are needed to come into compliance, as well as recommendations for improvements that are not required, but which help improve the farm's environmental performance.

The following information on the results of inspections conducted in the 2006-07 fiscal year was presented by MOE to OFEC.

In a number of instances, administrative requirements were needed in order to achieve full compliance. These types of non-compliances included Nutrient Management Strategy/Plan (NMS/P) updates and record-keeping.

Some had non-administrative compliance problems to correct, such as managing in accordance with their NMS/P, having required runoff control structures in place or properly maintaining vegetated buffer zones along watercourses. A few farms had discharges or evidence of discharges which had some potential to cause an adverse effect. The most common issues here were related to runoff from solid manure storages or outdoor confinement areas.

The two control points most commonly associated with non-compliance are solid manure storages and field application. Problems are typically related to runoff control, vegetated buffers and not managing in accordance with a NMP. Overall, though, farmers did well with 74 per cent of farms having an inspection score that exceeded provincial expectations
For the 2007/08 fiscal year, which has just been completed, the MOE expects inspections to double from 70 to 144, or approximately eight per cent of the 1,800 Nutrient Management Plans that have been submitted and approved.

Next year, MOE plans to focus inspections on concerns identified in 2006/07. To prepare you for a possible inspection, OMAFRA has recently released an Info Sheet entitled "What to Expect When an Agricultural Environmental Officer Inspects Your Farm." This useful and practical guidance document is available at www.ontario.ca/omafra.

At this point, we are reasonably confident that the Nutrient Management Inspection and Enforcement process and protocols are fair and reasonable. However, we are interested in hearing comments, both good and bad, about your experience. You are welcome to call me at 1-877-668- 7675, Ext. 304, or by email at sam.bradshaw@ontariopork.on.ca  BP

Sam Bradshaw is environmental specialist with Ontario Pork.