How Does 4R Nutrient Stewardship Affect Environmental, Social, and Economic Outcomes?

The goal of this project was to review resources and define a suitable framework for determining the social, environmental, and economic outcomes of 4R Nutrient Stewardship in Canada. Four major sets of guidelines were reviewed: 1) Integrated Environmental Assessment, United Nations Environment Program (2009); 2) the Canadian Cost Benefit Analysis Guide, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (2007); 3) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, Global Reporting Initiative (2011); and 4) Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System, Institute of Medicine and National Research Council (2015). We concluded that the key ingredients for assessment are: 1) establishing boundaries, possibly with multiple scales; 2) establishing baseline and possible scenarios; and 3) comparison of scenarios, quantifying economic, environmental and social impacts in terms of costs and benefits, expressed in dollars per unit of nitrogen or phosphorus.

The final reporting involves summarizing various scenarios, with their monetized effects, as well as a descriptive and detailed documentation of variability and non‐monetary or non‐measurable implications. A matrix of effects at farm, watershed and national levels was developed to categorize environmental, economic, and social impacts.