Federally, the CFIA is responsible for the Fertilizers Act and has core programs regarding pre-market assessment, fertilizer label verification and marketplace monitoring for compliance. Program details are elucidated in CFIA's Regulatory requirements.
A number of federal, provincial and territorial acts, regulations and codes, and municipal by-laws have provisions to minimize farm pollution, particularly of water bodies, since fertilizer and manure run-off are significant sources of water pollution (see Goal 5, Water in the food system).
Programming related to soil health, however, is largely operated by departments of agriculture, based on jurisdictional divisions (see Instruments, Constitutional Provisions). Most programming is not directly targeted to soil health, but often has some impact, both positive and negative, on soil health parameters. Most of these initiatives run through the Environmental Farm Plan provisions of the Canadian Agricultural Partnerships (CAP), carried out in collaboration with the provinces and territories. The EFP takes a Best Management Practices approach (see Instruments for limitations of this), with cost-shared funding arrangements on BMPs chosen as priorities by the provinces and territories. The BC EFP Workbook, for example, has pertinent modules (leading to actions on a voluntary basis only) on fertilizer use BMPs, handling, disposal and spill mitigation; on compost making and use; on manure handling, storage and use; cover cropping; nutrient and amendments management and application; and soil quality and management. Some provinces also have modest supplemental collaborations with the federal government through the CAP to develop better soil health plans, monitoring, program assessment, and peer-to-peer education programming, for example Ontario's On-Farm Applied Research and Monitoring (ONFARM) project. Some programming is also linked to climate change. The 2021 budget identified funding to help farmers reduce nutrient use and improve cover cropping as part of climate change mitigation. The announced $200 million will be delivered through Agricultural Climate Solutions. Canada’s strengthened climate plan commits to a 2030 national fertilizer emission reduction target of 30% below 2020 levels by working with fertilizer manufacturers, farmers, provinces and territories.
As with so many other areas of concern, the provinces have a wide range of approaches to regulation, nutrient management and soil health, with substantial gaps within many provinces and a patchwork of implementation across the country (see Table). Although the FPT Environmental Farm Plan and associated programming is supposed to create some national consistency, the lack of a national requirement regarding soil health allows for very inconsistent treatment.
Table: Provincial nutrient management (NM) and soil health (SH) instruments
| Jurisdiction | Key Acts/regulations | Key Programs | Key weaknesses |
| BC | Code of Practice for Agri-environmental management under Environmental Management Act | NM training and planning, sometimes mandatory in Vulnerable Aquifer Recharge Areas | Important pollution reduction focus, but limited soil health |
| AB | Agricultural Operation Practices Act (AOPA), Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) administers manure regulations | Traditional extension supports | Important pollution reduction focus, but limited soil health |
| SK | Agricultural Operations Act and regulations | Traditional extension supports | Pollution reduction focus, very weak on soil health |
| MB | Livestock Manure and Mortalities Management Regulation under The Environment Act; NM Regulation under Water Protection Act | Restrictions and prohibitions; traditional extension supports | Important pollution reduction focus, but limited soil health |
| ON | Nutrient Management Act; Soil health strategy (New Horizons) | CAP consulting services provisions; Many strategic actions named beyond traditional extension, but implementation not commensurate | See Rotz and MacRae |
| QC | Agricultural Operations Regulation, Environmental Quality Act; Agir, pour une agriculture durable includes soil health strategies | Budgeted farmer incentives; strategic soil health targets | Most ecologically comprehensive plan in Canada |
| NB | Livestock Operations Act (LOA) and General Regulation 99-3; Watershed or Wellfield Protected Area Designation Orders (Clean Water Act) |
EFP; Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture Program; traditional extension supports | Pollution reduction, but no specific soil health program |
| PE | Environmental Protection Act; Water Act; Agricultural Cover Crop Act | Enhanced EFP; Agriculture Stewardship Program; Agricultural Climate Solutions Program | Significant concern about soil health, evidence of improvements, but programming may not match concern |
| NS | Environment Act and Regulations; Farm Practices Act | CAP; Atlantic Soil Health Lab | Minimal pollution reduction, and weak on soil health |
| NL | Environmental Protection Act and regulations | CAP; traditional extension supports | Very limited, agricultural sector slowly expanding |
| YU | No direct legislation | Environmental Farm Plans; Agricultural Policy encourages soil building and nutrient management | Very limited, agriculture sector slowly expanding |
| NWT | No direct legislation | No direct programs | Limited agriculture |
| NU | No direct legislation | No direct programs | Limited agriculture |
So, in a more rational system, an agroecological approach to soil health would be the overall framework and fertilizer approval, use, management and disposal would operate within such a frame, as would regulations on manure storage and application. Currently, fertilizer regulation and soil health essentially function as thinly related processes, with fertilizers and nutrient management receiving far more attention that many parameters of soil health. Equally significant, in some provinces, nutrient (including manure) management regulations only apply to medium to large operations, or scale / landscape condition combinations, which to some degree makes sense as part of pollution reduction approach, but not necessarily within a soil health framework.
