My comments include only…

My comments include only NASM materials that have a known scientific benefit to agriculture and crop production through nutrient and organic soil improvements. 1...The new NASM legislation should definitely include a removal of Political borders that prevent the transfer of soil amendment additives from County to County or Region to Region. It should be up to the farmer needing and requiring the material to stay financially viable and the Ministry responsible for approving the application. Regional, City or Town Councils should have no legal right to intervene in the process. If the site (farm) fits the criteria, the NASM fits the category for COA, metals, nutrients and setbacks and as well if the applicator has an excellent track record the C of A should be gold. Homeowners that have just moved from the city need to understand that food production is a basic need in their lives like air and water. Canadian agriculture needs all the help it can get to stay viable, and NASM is part of that viability. 2...Application of NASM should have flexibility in application times. If warm dry weather permits application into December, that should be allowed. Or if an early spring allows application in April vs. May 01, this should be allowed to be written into the C of A. Application allowances should depend on common sense including frost or snow cover and field conditions mimicking a normal farm practice. Farmers and applicators are the experts, not the bureaucrats. Farmers are good stewards of the land. 3...Remove the "cluster" of homes rationale that is written in current C of A's. If the area of application is agricultural and again COA, metals, setbacks and nutrients are acceptable remove the 300 m setback and replace with a realistic limit. A dairy farmer can spread unstablized manure almost right up to a property line where a stable NASM must have unrealistic setbacks. The farmer then needs to purchase chemical fertilizer where the NASM would be perfectly acceptable. This again does not make common sense. 4...The Government in on the right track for the application of NASM. You are doing a good job. Please take it one step further and include a commitment to let the program do as it is designed to do, provide nutrients for agriculture at a low cost while protecting the environment.

[Original Comment ID: 104705]