By Ashley Walker

Spring has officially sprung, and the streets of Canton, N.Y., are filled with the farm-fresh scent of cow manure, as they do each year around this time. While people traveling through town might block their noses and feel nausea at the strong smell, locals and students of St. Lawrence University have grown to associate the smell with home and understand its importance for agriculture.

Livestock Resource Educator of the Cornell Cooperative Extension Betsy Hodge says the smell of cow manure is an indication that farmers are making good use out of it. “Even though it smells bad it’s really important. I know someone is handling their farm with good manure management,” she says.

Hodge also says that there are not real dangers to the smell either. “It’s really just nontoxic fermented digested grass and corn. Nothing poisonous,” she says. “And for farmers it’s a valuable resource, it keeps them from having to apply commercial fertilizers.”

Abagail Etsy ’19 sees how essential agriculture is to the Canton community and upstate New York in general, even when they spray the manure. “It’s incredibly important and they do try to do it when it’s still cold enough out that the smell doesn’t spread too much,” she says. “I come from a town that is very much agriculturally-based, so it does remind me of home, and like spring-time, as much as it does just smell like shit.”

John Newman, the track and field head coach at St. Lawrence University, grew up on a dairy farm, and when his stress headaches in elementary school grew bad, the powerful farm scent comforted him. “Once I started smelling manure, I started feeling at home,” he says.

Kayla Beck ’21, a track and field athlete who bears the smell each day on her runs through town, doesn’t believe there are negative health effects either. “I don’t think of it as a dirty smell. I think ah! It’s a farm! There’s animals and fertilizer. I like farms,” she says. Going to school in farm country has educated Beck. “I can personally tell the difference between horse poop and cow manure,” she proudly states.

An anonymous worker from the Noble Farm in Canton, N.Y., also does not foresee any side effects of the smell. “I have lived on a farm my entire life; my dad has lived on a farm his entire life, and it hasn’t hurt us an entire bit,” he says.

Although most students and residents are accustomed to the smell, Leah Livernois ’21 from Norwood, N.Y., definitely notices it. “It makes me have nausea,” she says. Livernois is one of the few who feels strongly affected by it, despite her North Country roots. “I am not around it a lot so when I do smell it, I can tell it’s there, I don’t think I have adjusted,” she says.

For those who are not accustomed to the smell, Nick Vielhaur ’20 lends advice to dealing with the stench. “If you don’t want to smell cow poop don’t smell. It’s a byproduct of where you live,” he says. Cow manure means home for many Canton residents, even if it is not as nice as fresh laundry.