frank
Guest
Given the region?s weirdly warm March weather, southern Manitoba farmers now have a one-time break from the provincial rule banning spring fertilizer applications before April 10.
The provincial conservation and water stewardship ministries said Tuesday they would temporarily lift the restriction effective immediately, three weeks earlier than normal.
The province said its move was "in response to recent record-warm temperatures and low soil-moisture content."
Keystone Agricultural Producers, the province?s general farm group, had sought a meeting Monday with provincial officials to get the ban lifted.
Normally the ban blocks farmers from putting down fertilizers after Nov. 10 and before April 10, as a way to prevent nutrient runoff by making sure fertilizers don?t go onto frozen soils.
This month, however, it?s a given that southern Manitoba?s soils are "no longer frozen," the province said, and the soils? already-low moisture content will also help guard against nutrient runoff into waterways.
The exemption, however, does not apply to spreading of livestock manure, nor to fertilizing "sensitive lands along waterways," nor to lands classified as Nutrient Management Zone N4, the province cautioned.
More at http://agcanada.com/daily/manitoba-allows-early-spring-fertilizing/
The provincial conservation and water stewardship ministries said Tuesday they would temporarily lift the restriction effective immediately, three weeks earlier than normal.
The province said its move was "in response to recent record-warm temperatures and low soil-moisture content."
Keystone Agricultural Producers, the province?s general farm group, had sought a meeting Monday with provincial officials to get the ban lifted.
Normally the ban blocks farmers from putting down fertilizers after Nov. 10 and before April 10, as a way to prevent nutrient runoff by making sure fertilizers don?t go onto frozen soils.
This month, however, it?s a given that southern Manitoba?s soils are "no longer frozen," the province said, and the soils? already-low moisture content will also help guard against nutrient runoff into waterways.
The exemption, however, does not apply to spreading of livestock manure, nor to fertilizing "sensitive lands along waterways," nor to lands classified as Nutrient Management Zone N4, the province cautioned.
More at http://agcanada.com/daily/manitoba-allows-early-spring-fertilizing/