SPECIAL REPORT by Al Mussell, Cher Brethour and Larry Martin

On October 2nd, 2001 the federal environment commissioner released her annual report.  In it, she offered an assessment of the environmental impact of agriculture in the Great Lakes basin and the federal government’s role.  In this special report, we provide a brief analysis of the Environment Commissioner’s report as it relates to livestock and sustainability. Specifically, we clarify a misconception in the Commissioner’s comparison between livestock waste and human waste, and discuss the sustainability of crop nutrients (loadings and uptake) in Ontario and Quebec as they relate to manure loadings and fertilizer use.