Manure and the Environment

The production of livestock manure^[1] has both environmental benefits and drawbacks. Although manure is a valuable fertilizer for crop production, it can also become a source of pollution if not managed properly.

This Statistics Canada publication is a collection of five annotated maps and graphs that describe the geographic distribution of manure production in Canada by river basin area. The amount of manure produced is estimated along with some of the major substances found in manure: (i) nitrogen, (ii) phosphorus, (iii) total coliform bacteria and (iv) fecal coliform bacteria.

This publication profiles manure production, but does not examine the positive or negative environmental impacts of the quantities produced. To do this, further research would be required to link the production of manure with environmental quality. Additionally, other factors that influence the effect of manure on the environment, such as soil type, climate, precipitation, topography and manure management practices, would have to be studied. Some water quality problems, for example, are a result of a number of factors, of which the quantity of manure produced may or may not be the most important.