Legislation
Nutrient Management Plans – The Short Version
By Ken Hough, OCPA Director of Research and Market Development

Who can use the Short-Form NMP?
A category 1,2,5,7 or 8 farm unit may be able to utilize the short-form NMP/NMS, if it does not utilize biosolids and operators can answer ‘yes’ to all 10 questions outlined below.
1) Does the farm unit have a completed Farm Unit Declaration, indicating the operation identifier (an OMAF-generated identifier)?
2) Does the farm unit operator have proof that the required minimum level (still to be defined) of education or training in best management practices has been attained?
3) Does this farm unit use only on-farm generated nutrients and/or commercial fertilizers and/or other materials specified for inclusion in the criteria for the short-form NMP? (On-farm generated nutrients/manure does not mean only generated on the specified farm unit, as receivers of manure are also eligible to use the short form, subject to questions 6 through 10). According to the draft NM Reg, other specified materials include agricultural washwaters, on-farm processing byproducts, leachates, livestock yard or manure storage runoff).
4) This farm unit does not apply biosolids?
5) For farm units that generate nutrients:
Does this farm unit:
a. Belong in Category 1 or 2?
b. Manage only on-farm generated manure (this does refer to manure generated on that farm unit), including runoff from that manure?
c. Generate less than 1.5 nutrient units per tillable hectare on the farm unit? (Refer to the January 2003 article, p. 17, for a description of nutrient unit. Further details are provided in the draft regulation and NM protocol.)
d. Have a completed MSTOR or equivalent evaluation?*
e. Have adequate manure storage or documentation of other arrangements in lieu of storage? *
* Space limitations preclude dealing here with all the information and details regarding these issues which pertain to livestock enterprises.
6) For farm units that receive nutrients:
Does this farm unit:
a. Receive less than 1.5 nutrient unit/ha?
b. Meet all the requirements for temporary storage?
7) For farm units where nutrients are applied to land:
Does this farm unit:
a. Only apply solid manure on all fields at application rates < 7 t/ha for poultry manure or < 22 t/ha for other solid manure?
b. Comply with all land application regulations (setbacks, adequate spreading conditions, etc.)?
c. Apply nutrients to land at rates less than 15 kg/ha above OMAF Crop Fertilizer Recommendations?
8) Does the farm unit have a contingency plan completed in accordance with the requirements of the NM Protocol?
9) Will you (the operator) reassess your farm unit based on this set of criteria at least every 5 years and renew your NM Strategy/Plan accordingly?
10) Is the operator of this farm unit free from violation under the Nutrient Management Act within the last five years?

The ‘Farm Unit’
Farm operators may have their entire farm operation as their farm unit, or may declare more than one farm unit within their overall operation. As indicated in the October issue of the Ontario Corn Producer (p.10, Nutrient Management Regulations – Phase I), a farm unit can be defined as follows:
1. For agricultural operations that generate a prescribed nutrient (manure, washwaters, on-farm processing by products, leachates, livestock yard or manure storage runoff, etc.):
• Can be no smaller than a single deed, or
• Can be no smaller than the landbase of a generating facility under a single continuous roof, or
• Must include all land receiving nutrients generated on the deeded property, as required by the Nutrient Management Strategy and/or Plan; whether or not the land itself is on the same deed, and
• Must include nutrient generating facilities on other deeds owned by the same person/corporation if the nutrients generated on these other deeds are utilized on the landbase of the first deed; and
• If nutrients are generated in different locations on your overall operation and those nutrients are not spread on the same landbase, then these different locations can be two or more separate farm units.
2. For agricultural operations that do
not generate, but use nutrients:
• The farm unit can be no smaller than a single field.
There is no minimum land ownership requirement (i.e., all of the land within a farm unit could be leased or rented, but Manure/Biosolids Application Agreements are needed for property not owned by the farm unit operator.) There is no cap or maximum amount of nutrient units per farm unit. A separate NMP (or NM Strategy for nutrient generators) must be prepared for each farm unit.

How the ‘farm unit’ is defined may affect which Category the farm unit fits into, as well as affecting how and when the regulations may apply to the defined farm unit, so consider this step carefully. For Categories 1-4, the category designation is defined by the amount of nutrient generated or received. For Categories 5 through 9, the determining factor is the type of farm operation rather than the number of nutrient units managed. (Refer to the January issue, Table 1, p. 16 for a description of the Categories.)

If all 10 questions can be answered ‘Yes’, once signed and dated, this forms the short-form nutrient management plan/strategy. The short-form NMP/NMS must be kept on the farm and be available for reference and inspection purposes.

Phase-in timelines for short-form NMPs are the same as for the longer version. Use of the short-form NMP/NMS does not exempt or excuse operators from following all other requirements specified in the Nutrient Management Act, such as:
• incorporation requirements
• winter spreading restrictions
• buffer zones
• restrictions such as two-year-time-of-travel zones for municipal wells, depth to groundwater or bedrock, renewal earlier than every 5 years if there is a 20% or greater increase in the amount of manure received for the farm unit, a 10% decrease in land available for nutrient application or a decrease of 20% or more in nutrient removal relative to the plan for year one for the defined farm unit.

Although not specified in the sections of the draft Regulation and Protocol dealing with the short-form NMP/NMS, requirements for record-keeping still apply. Thus, farmers will need to maintain records showing their planned and actual nutrient applications on a field-by-field basis, as part of their operation’s management of nutrients. These should be generated by NMAN (software or hardcopy worksheets) or equivalent systems, to ensure they are sufficient to meet the inspection requirements.

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