“The vast majority of the nitrous oxide that is emitted is from agriculture,” said Mario Tenuta, professor of soil ecology at the University of Manitoba.

A significant drop in ag-related N2O emissions could reduce Canada’s overall greenhouse gas emissions by two or three per cent — a not-insignificant number, Tenuta told the Co-operator.

“It all adds up, particularly because we’re going to need as much as possible in terms of reduction,” he said.

Tenuta and other researchers from the University of Manitoba presented this and other research in a self-guided tour near Carman in late July. The tour relied on signs and ‘QR codes,’ which led to videos and handouts explaining research at the plot.

The tour was a joint initiative between the province, university, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s Industrial Research Chair program. The site is one of three spread across Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

“The aims of the projects now are to increase nitrogen use efficiency of grain corn,” Tenuta said in a video overview of the site. “That’s to meet national objectives of reducing greenhouse gases and other nitrogen losses to the environment.”

Nitrous oxide gas is released from soil during the cycling of nitrogen. It traps heat and destroys ozone in the upper atmosphere.

N2O accounts for about five per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2018 report from Environment and Climate Change Canada — by comparison, carbon dioxide is 80 per cent, and methane is 13 per cent.

However, because the emissions are concentrated in a particular activity, it can be identified and perhaps targeted.

The project tested combinations of the 4Rs (rate, source, timing and placement) in three groups of pre-plant broadcast incorporation of urea-based sources; in-season top-dressed UAN with urease/nitrification inhibitors; and in-season UAN placement through surface dribble or side dress at various depths.

Preliminary results show enhanced efficiency fertilizers reduce N2O emissions compared to conventional urea when broadcast before planting.

Some are able to reduce emissions 30 to 50 per cent, which tracks with research out of Eastern Canada and the United States.

“I think that’s pretty exciting,” Tenuta said.

Granted, enhanced efficiency fertilizers are generally costlier than conventional ones. Tenuta said they’re working to find payoffs for the extra expense — whether in increased yield, reduced application rate, or increased convenience and peace of mind.

Research also showed that placement of the fertilizer has important effects. Subsurface banding, for instance, effectively reduces emissions.

“We want to reiterate that that’s a good practice to our farmers,” said Tenuta.

They’ve also found that if farmers wait to apply fertilizer into late October or November just before freeze-up, they lose less fertilizer and less becomes N2O gas.

Right now, enhanced efficiency fertilizers are using old chemistries and old approaches, Tenuta said. Fertilizer companies are investing a lot of money to come up with new chemistries and new products. In a couple of decades, nitrogen losses will likely be reduced by new technology.

This might include “super-smart fertilizers” that can sense their environment and nutrients on hand and be triggered by plants to release, Tenuta said. This might be through plant breeding, molecular or nanotechnology.

“I’m envisioning quite a drastic change, let’s say — here I’m talking 20 years from now — a farmer could put fertilizer down and it does nothing. It does nothing unless there’s a plant that triggers the fertilizer,” he said.

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Atrazine, widely used as a weed killer, is known to have harmful effects on aquatic wildlife and presents a risk to human health by altering the action of certain hormones, according to some studies.

In a study published recently in Water Research, a team led by INRS professor, Patrick Drogui compare various processes used to degrade atrazine.

A process known as photo-electron-Fenton (or PEF) seems particularly effective for removing low concentrations of atrazine and its byproducts in surface water sampled from agricultural areas.

More than 99 per cent of the atrazine was removed following just 15 minutes of treatment in prepared samples, reducing the concentration of the product to below detectable levels.

In natural surface water samples where the product was found, the results were very similar, with reductions ranging from 96 to 99 per cent. The findings pave the way for more work that could see the technique leave the lab for real-world application, Drogui said.

“The challenge is to develop low-cost industrial technologies that can be used to treat large volumes of water and simultaneously remove micropollutants like pesticides and their metabolites, which can be more toxic than the original compounds,” he said.

Although PEF is a clean, effective technology, it will take some more work to combine it with a biological treatment process in a water treatment plant and make it more energy efficient.

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The study, released by the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, marks the first broad-scale investigation of multiple neonicotinoid insecticides in waterways in the Midwestern U.S., and is one of the first conducted within the entire United States, according to the government scientists.

In the report, 79 water samples from across Iowa, the top U.S. corn-producing state, were collected during the 2013 growing season. Researchers said the use of neonicotinoid insecticides has grown in recent years, and they found them to be both “mobile and persistent” with “a strong pulse of neonicotinoids associated with crop planting” in streams.

The researchers said the broad use of the neonicotinoids, “needs to be closely examined in relation to environmental impacts.”

• More from the Manitoba Co-operator: Local bees survive better than imports

Similar studies by the U.S. Geological Survey have found many other types of common agricultural chemicals in stream samples in Iowa, but researchers said there was a “substantially greater neonicotinoid detection frequency” observed in this study compared to historical detections of other insecticides.

Neonicotinoids, also known as neonics, are sold by agrichemical companies to boost yields of staple crops, but are also used widely on annual and perennial plants in lawns and gardens. Neonics, chemically similar to nicotine, are commonly applied to the seeds before they are planted.

As use of the neonics has grown, some scientists have linked the insecticides to large losses in honeybee colonies that are considered critical for the production of many U.S. crops. Honeybees pollinate plants that produce about a quarter of U.S. consumer foods, according to the U.S. government.

Many agrichemical companies, including Bayer, whose neonic products are top sellers around the world, say there are a mix of factors killing off the bees and that neonics are important tools for boosting crop production.

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Menzies recently resigned as MP for the southern Alberta riding of McLeod to succeed Lorne Hepworth, a former Saskatchewan agriculture minister, who retires next year. CropLife represents Canada’s manufacturers and distributors of agricultural chemicals and seed.

“The law is quite clear,” Menzies said in an interview. “I can’t lobby my former colleagues or any of the departments I was connected with for five years and I won’t.”

Any presentations to ministers or government regulators will be done by CropLife’s directors or staff. The CropLife directors represent top-level companies “that know the industry has to be promoting safe and sustainable production of food,” he said. “They understand the pressure from consumers and farmers for safer foods, environmental sustainability and better agricultural chemicals.”

Menzies plans to focus on the agri-food industry’s preoccupation with producing enough food to safely feed a global population expected to reach nine billion by 2050.

“If I can contribute, why shouldn’t I?” he said. “Would people criticize me for leaving politics if I spent the rest of my life retired in Florida or Phoenix?”

First elected in 2006, the former president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers and the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance served as minister of international trade and junior minister of finance in the Harper government before announcing last spring he wouldn’t run in the next federal election. He was dropped from cabinet in the summer shuffle, and said he was then approached to take on the CropLife presidency.

John Bennett of Sierra Club Canada was among the critics who said Menzies’ hiring was a brazen attempt by the pesticide industry to buy influence with the Harper cabinet.

“Because of dangerously weak federal ethics and lobbying rules, Menzies is allowed to become president and CEO of a federally regulated organization that lobbies the federal government regularly,” Bennett said in a release.

“Whether or not Mr. Menzies technically does any lobbying, his position as president and CEO of CropLife clearly opens government doors and provides valuable insight on the internal workings of the Harper government,” Bennett said. “Are we supposed to believe Mr. Menzies will lock himself in his new office and not take calls or check his email?”

Menzies said CropLife officials were well aware of the lobbying prohibition he faced when they approached him about the job.

“They understood I could carry on the leadership of the organization and deal with other countries and farm groups and the food industry. That’s what I want to do. Help the membership find ways to feed a hungry world. There are a lot of challenges out there that I can work on.”

While he may be unable to talk to federal ministers and officials, Menzies will be able to meet provincial agriculture ministers and university officials about developments in Canada. There’s no restriction on what he can do internationally. CropLife Canada is part of the federation of agriculture supply organizations operating in 91 countries and Canada has a lot to contribute in terms of technological developments, he points out.

Menzies said the emergence of new crop commissions and research organizations in Western Canada opens a whole new field for collaboration within the agri-food community. “We’re looking forward to working with the new commissions and encouraging new crop-variety research.”

The development of gluten-free wheat is just one of many possible innovations that could create new crops and possibilities for farmers, he said.

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PotashCorp, the world s top fertilizer maker, said Oct. 27 its quarterly profit more than doubled, as strong grain prices boosted demand for its crop nutrient products.

Despite wides pread economic concerns during the quarter, the push to capitalize on strong crop prices continued to support demand for fertilizer around the globe, the company said.

PotashCorp said offshore demand for its namesake nutrient remained robust in the quarter, while potash prices also rose, reflecting tight market conditions.

The Saskatoon, Saskatchewanbased company said net income was $826 million, or 94 cents a share, up from $343 million, or 38 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 47 per cent to $2.32 billion, on the back of strong demand and higher prices across its potash, phosphate and nitrogen businesses, the company said.

North American potash markets look extraordinarily strong for 2012, chief executive Bill Doyle said in a conference call.

The big issue for everyone to understand is we re going to have an extraordinarily tight market because of the constraint on the production side.

PotashCorp said that although fertilizer dealers around the world were acting prudently to minimize their risks and inventories, robust demand continued to pressure global potash supplies.

We believe most producers have been operating at or near their full capabilities in an attempt to keep pace, the company said.

PotashCorp also tried to allay investor concerns about the pullback and heightened volatility in grain prices, arguing that low global grain inventories will continue to support high crop prices in the near term.

The Chicago futures price for corn, a fertilizer-intensive crop, has retreated from its June peak, but remains about 12 per cent higher than a year ago, giving farmers more incentive to apply crop nutrients.

Six-dollar corn is nirvana for me, Doyle said, when asked if farmers might balk at high fertilizer prices with corn easing off highs. (Farmers) just lick their chops at $6 corn. I don t see any farmer backing off from fertilizer.

———

Six-dollar corn is nirvana for me. (Farmers) just lick their chops at $6 corn. I don t see any farmer backing off from fertilizer.

BILL DOYLE

CEO POTASHCORP

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Trade sources said increased fertilizer orders by farmers, coupled with corn prices hovering around two-year highs near $6 per bushel, could mean the area planted with corn rises past 90 million acres from 88.2 million this year.

“We’re in an unusual situation. We’re about 60 days short of supply and 30 days ahead on fertilizer demand,” said Jean Payne, president of the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association, Bloomington, Illinois.

“We won’t have tonnage figures until January but I can tell you that the demand is up because of the early harvest and the higher corn prices,” she added, basing her assessment of demand on anecdotal accounts from farmers in Illinois.

Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade have surged more than 40 per cent from a year ago and about 80 per cent

above the summer low. This has fuelled expectations for increased corn seedings next year, and the rise in fertilizer demand provides evidence that will happen.

In a sign of rising demand from farmers, the cost of anhydrous ammonia (NH3), the main source of nitrogen for corn growers, has doubled in some parts of the U. S. Midwest from around $400 per ton a year ago to $800.

Payne said the price of anhydrous ammonia probably will rise further because the big surge in demand will come once soil temperatures drop to 10 C, when anhydrous ammonia converts to nitrate.

Maximum corn production requires vast amounts of nitrogen fertilizer and most of the nitrogen stems from the application of anhydrous ammonia in the fall and early winter and also as a side dressing to the crop in early spring.

“There is no doubt the price of anhydrous is going up. I booked some for $545, up from last year’s $415 and now the price in central Illinois is from $610 to $675,” said Dan Cekander, Newedge USA analyst and operator of a family farm.

“I can’t rule out that it could be priced at $800 in some areas, it is going up,” he said. “For comparison I booked at $990 in the fall of 2008 for the 2009 crop and it eventually went up to $1,200 and $1,300,” Cekander said.

Harry Vroomen, vice-president of economic services with The Fertilizer Institute in Washington, said higher corn prices were leading to increased application of fertilizers.

“The higher crop prices should lead to a six-million to eight-million acre increase in the number of planted acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton in 2011. These crops typically account for 70 per cent of total U. S. nutrient use,” he said.

The projected increase in planted area would equate to about a rise of 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent over the combined 230.5 million acres planted in 2010, according to U. S. Department of Agriculture data.

He said about 45 per cent of all fertilizer is applied in the fall and 55 per cent in the spring.

Paul Fixen, director of research for the International Plant Nutrition Institute, Brookings, South Dakota, said fertilizer consumption tracks grain prices.

In the United States, in 2009, a year of lower prices, phosphorus consumption was down to around 3.5 million tons from the usual 4.5 million, potash use dropped to three million tons from about five million and nitrogen was around 12 million tons down from the usual 12.5 million to 13 million, he said.

The U. S. Gulf spot price for diammonium phosphate (DAP), the most widely used fertilizer nutrient, had surged to $575 per tonne by mid-October. That’s up sharply from $460 per tonne three months ago as corn gained over 40 per cent, and up from roughly $300 a year ago.

But it remains far short of more than $1,000 for DAP in 2008, when CBOT wheat, corn and soybean prices soared to record highs.

———

“We’reinanunusual situation.We’reabout 60daysshortofsupply and30daysaheadon fertilizerdemand.”

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In addition to lowering prices for the 2011 season, the company will accelerate payment on certain distributor and retailer incentives to close out the programs.

“By reducing the uncertainty associated with Roundup, we free Monsanto to grow on its fundamentals,” Monsanto chairman Hugh Grant said. “What matters to our long-term growth is our seeds-and-traits business, which is on track.”

The company also appeared to acknowledge spreading industry concerns about increasing weed resistance to its glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide.

The company said it would create “a simple weed resistance package,” working with U. S. distributors to combine a simplified Roundup brand with other complementary chemicals for better weed control.

Jefferies & Co. analyst Laurence Alexander said it was noteworthy that Monsanto was giving validity to weed resistance concerns and said this issue was likely to be a “recurring theme” going forward.

Monsanto said overall the changes being made to the Roundup business would reduce ongoing earnings per share contributed by that unit by 50 cents to 70 cents for 2010.

Roundup was once a key profit driver for Monsanto, and it has continued to generate sales even in the face of generic competition, in part because of its development of “Roundup Ready” crops – those genetically altered to tolerate treatments of the Roundup weed killer. Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybeans, for example, have been wildly popular with U. S. farmers.

But as problems with weed resistance have been mounting and generic pricing becoming evermore competitive, Monsanto has seen its herbicide revenue slide.

The company’s agricultural products segment, which includes its Roundup business, saw a 35 per cent drop in second-quarter net sales to $642 million from a year earlier.

At the same time, analysts have become increasingly critical of the company’s market moves, chiding Monsanto for taking an arrogant approach in marketing and pricing of both its Roundup herbicide and branded seeds.

Monsanto is also dealing with an antitrust probe by the U. S. Department of Justice and several states related to its pricing and control of the U. S. seed industry.

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“It’s one more arrow in the quiver.”

– HEATHER CLAY, CHC

Anew U. S. study has detected a number of pesticides in North American honeybee colonies at far higher levels than previously known.

Scientists have found “unprecedented levels of miticides and agricultural pesticides in honeybee colonies from across the U. S. and one Canadian province,” says the study, published March 19 in an online scientific journal.

The study by a team of Pennsylvania State University entomologists is careful to avoid saying chemicals cause colony col lapse disorder (CCD), a mysterious die-off of bees occurring throughout the U. S. But it refuses to dismiss the idea, either.

“It seems to us that it is far too early to attempt to link or dismiss pesticide impacts with CCD,” the study says.

CCD has become a metaphor for recent massive losses of honeybee colonies in the U. S., Canada and Europe. The U. S. lost a third of its bee colonies in each of the three winters between 2006 and 2009.

Across Canada, beekeepers during the winter of 2009 averaged colony losses of nearly 35 per cent, including 32 per cent in Manitoba.

Scientists looking for a smoking gun to explain the losses have concluded they are due to a combination of factors. That could include chemicals in hives.

The “plethora of pesticides that are currently present in U. S. beehives” calls for urgent action, the study’s authors say.

They call for “urgent changes in regulatory policies regarding pesticide registration and monitoring procedures as they relate to pollinator safety” in order to safeguard the food supply.

“Is risking the $14-billion contribution of pollinators to our food system really worth lack of action?” the writers ask in conclusion.

The study based its findings on 749 samples of pollen and beeswax taken from commercial bee operations between 2007 and 2008.

Researchers call it the largest sampling to date of pesticide residues in bee colonies in North America or worldwide.

In all, the study detected 118 different chemicals in the samples, with an average of seven different products per sample.

The wax samples contained traces of 87 different pesticides, averaging eight different residues in each sample. The pollen samples contained 98 pesticides with up to 31 different pesticides in a single sample and an overall average of seven per sample.

The most frequently found residues were from fluvalinate and coumaphos, chemicals used to control the parasitic varroa mite endemic in North American beehives.

A list of the top 10 detected products includes: three in-hive miticides, five insecticides, one fungicide and one herbicide.

This suggests the bulk of chemical residues in bee colonies stems from efforts to control the varroa and other insect pests.

But it also indicates bees pick up agro-chemicals along with pollen while foraging and bring them back to their hives.

Beeswax is the least renewable resource in a hive and “is thus where persistent pesticides can provide a ‘toxic-house’ syndrome for the bees,” the study says.

Heather Clay, CEO of the Canadian Honey Council, described a recently discovered phenomenon cal led “entombed pollen” in which bees brick up pollen they’ve collected so it’s not available. Subsequent tests show high levels of agricultural chemicals in the pollen.

It’s believed bees know they can’t use the pollen because it’s contaminated, Clay said.

The higher-than-expected prevalence of chemicals in bee colonies is significant but not conclusive toward explaining high rates of bee colony losses, she said.

“It’s one more arrow in the quiver but it’s certainly not the whole story. It‘s just one thing that might be weakening the bees’ immune system.”

David Ostermann, a Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives apiarist, said recent research at the University of Guelph suggests the presence of the varroa in hives is the main reason for bee losses.

He suggested beekeepers can use “softer” products or replace comb more frequently to mitigate pesticide residues in hives.ron@fbcpublishing.com

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Nitrogen, phosphate and potash – the three essential crop nutrients – have dropped sharply since hitting record levels, due to decreased demand and fallout from the recession.

Farmers will likely increase fertilizer applications this year as they replenish soil nutrients and boost corn and soybean acreage, analysts and crop specialists said.

Allendale Inc. and Informa Economics, two closely watched analytical firms, have forecast both crops to grow beyond the already record-large size of the 2009-10 crops. The U. S. Agriculture Department will release its first acreage projection on March 31.

“Farmers last year put less phosphate and potassium on because of the high prices, and they’re going to need to make up this year to replenish the soil,” said Gary Schnitkey, professor of farm management at the University of Illinois.

Diammonium phosphate fertilizer (DAP) prices in Illinois have fallen about 60 per cent from its top of more than $1,100 per ton in October 2008, while potash and anhydrous ammonia have fallen 50 and 52 per cent, respectively, according to USDA data.

Falling prices and lacklustre demand have pressured earnings at the world’s largest fertilizer maker Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan and at Agrium Inc. Both companies reported drops in fourth-quarter profits but lifted expectations for fertilizer sales this year.

Lower fertilizer costs and a huge South American soybean crop may also lead to an increase in U. S. corn acres this year at the expense of soybeans, said Chad Hart, agriculture economist at the University of Iowa.

Corn demands roughly twice the amount of fertilizer as soybeans and also yields more bushels per acre.

“In 2009, producers saw high fertilizer prices and they made a conscious choice because (soybeans need) less fertilizer,” Hart said. “We probably won’t set another record this year in soybeans.”

Benchmark prices for both crops have fallen sharply this year ahead of harvest in Brazil and Argentina. Chicago Board of Trade corn futures have fallen more than 11 per cent this year, and soybean futures by 2.8 per cent.

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