Reporting on our open Water Pollution Series papers, and on public developments in soil, nutrient load, and farmland liability.
Open-access Paper 3 in the Water Pollution Series sizes the cost-benefit of remitting agriculture's externalized water-pollution bill and pairing remittance with practices that cut load at the field.
Open-access Paper 2 follows farmland consolidation on monitored reaches and finds that fewer, larger title holders raise the odds that nutrient rules or cleanup claims attach to the holder on title.
Open-access Paper 1 maps the public remediation ledger in the basins that drive Canada's nutrient water-quality bill and finds agriculture carries most of the attributed load and a small share of program cash.
The Senate's June 2024 report Critical Ground made 25 recommendations on soil, including designating soil as a strategic national asset. Farmland owners and advisors are reading that framing against lease files that often carry rent schedules and little else.
The Canada-Ontario Lake Erie Action Plan's evaluation confirmed the 40 percent phosphorus load-reduction target under the Canada-US Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement was missed by the 2025 deadline, with non-point agricultural runoff still the largest share of the load.
Three papers on nutrient load, who pays for cleanup, and how farmland consolidation concentrates liability on the holder of title. Each PDF is free to download; Zenodo DOIs provide the archival record.
Maps the public remediation ledger in the basins that drive Canada's water-quality bill. Under central attribution, agriculture carries most of the load and a small share of public-program cash.
Follows farmland consolidation on monitored reaches. Fewer, larger title holders raise the odds that nutrient rules attach to the holder on title; portfolio landlords inherit that exposure with the land.
Cost-benefit of remitting taxpayer-pool externalization. About half lines up with export-bound production; remittance paired with field practices that cut load ranks above transfer alone.
