Greenbelt Foundation presentations promote healthy soils and water
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Luke Edwards
The dirt beneath your feet may all look more or less the same, but take a closer look and there’s an entire world of variety.
As the Greenbelt Foundation continues efforts to promote soil health on farms in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, experts made a stop in Niagara last month to discuss the results of a two-year soil health study and offer some tips on how farmers can keep their soils in tip top shape to help their own crops as well as local water quality.
One of the key goals of the study was to allow farmers to get a baseline of soil health, and ensure they’re making appropriate comparisons.
“We need to compare clay soils to clay soils and sandy soils to sandy soils,” said Jenny Bower, a research soil scientist with the Soil Health Institute.
The Niagara-Haldimand-Hamilton region has a unique soil makeup, with dozens of soil types throughout. Individual farmers can even be dealing with multiple soil types on a single farm, Bower said.
“You can’t manage your fields if you don’t know what your baseline measurements are,” said the Greenbelt Foundation’s Ryan Carlow, program lead.
Locally, experts took 117 samples on 40 farms during the study. They collected soil from a range of production, including field crops, orchards, fencerow/wooded areas, and hayfields and meadows. They were then split into current management practices of baseline conventional management, areas where soil health practices were being employed and reference areas to offer a glimpse into the potential peak of soil health.
“A big thank you to all the farmers here who let us sample their soils,” Bower said.
The results showed benefits to farmers who incorporate soil health measures. Bower noted some commonalities for fields that scored high: minimizing tillage, using a consistent crop rotation, frequently planting cover crops, and incorporating organic amendments.
“We had a no-till farmer who actually got to that reference bar,” she said.
“Practices can be really impactful when used together.”
Adam Hayes, a soil specialist with the Soil Resource Group, offered some tips for farmers. For instance, utilizing cover crops should be done with intention, as different crops will help achieve different goals. Blends can offer the best of all worlds, but can get pricey.
Farmers will also see more benefits if they get their cover crops on as soon as possible after harvest, and leave them on as long as possible.
They should also consider how to terminate the cover crop. Chemical kill is better than tilling, he said, but depending on the situation farmers can also let winter do the work or even harvest the crop for feed.
Organic amendments also help, though farmers need to consider other environmental factors, Hayes said.
Likewise, tillage choices can impact how much carbon is lost from the soil.
In a lot of cases, it can take a long time before soil sampling starts to show improvements. However, Hayes said farmers may see visual changes that signal an improving soil before the samples confirm it. Those who have recently adopted new practices should keep an eye out for increasing worm populations or better water absorption.
“Adding organic matter makes the soil more of a sponge to soak up water, but also store it for the future,” Bower said.
Implementing soil health practices can have the added benefit of improving water quality, Kokulan Vivekananthan, water quality specialist for Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement, said. His research that looked at tile drainage systems and runoff, found phosphorus and nutrients leaving fields. And most of that happens during the non-growing season, offering a further benefit for cover crop utilization.
In a roundtable to wrap up the morning portion Bower recalled talking to a farmer about runoff who said he came to the realization that he was essentially paying to pollute.
“Sometimes a mindshift can also get at this,” she said.
The afternoon session saw Cameron Ogilvie lead a group discussion on change, and implementing best management practices.
More information on the Greenbelt’s soil health research can be found online, at greenbelt.ca/research-report/regional_soil_health_report.