... the health of one soil can be very different from the health of another and both are healthy.” – David Lobb, University of Manitoba.

Soil health a moving target

There’s no one-size-fits-all measure of soil health, David Lobb says

Saying a soil is ‘healthy’ isn’t something simple like running through a checklist. David Lobb, a soil scientist at the University of Manitoba says it’s a moving target that takes many variables into account. There are hundreds of different soils across the province, thousands across the country and the development of each one moves toward

The long shadow of the 1930s dust bowl may have resulted in an inaccurate assessment of wind erosion risk.

Soil erosion concerns overblown?

Academic says soil loss to wind erosion isn’t backed up by data

David Lobb has spent much of the last year challenging long-established beliefs about wind erosion. The University of Manitoba soil science professor and his team recently completed a study of the historical and contemporary evidence of wind erosion on the Prairies and the findings run counter to deeply rooted assumptions about wind erosion that have


Soil scientist David Lobb speaks to a tour group during a Soil Conservation Council of Canada conference this October.

What’s blowing in the wind? Maybe not your soil

A recent study on land rolling shows that wind erosion doesn’t cause severe soil loss

A recent Manitoba study shows wind erosion may not be the soil stealer it’s cracked up to be. “It’s a perception issue,” said David Lobb, a soil scientist from the University of Manitoba. While recent images of dirty snow — or “snirt” — and the towering clouds of topsoil from the dust bowl era are

VIDEO: A return to the Dust Bowl days?

VIDEO: A return to the Dust Bowl days?

Are the soil conservation lessons learned from the Dirty Thirties being forgotten? Manitoba Co-operator reporter Allan Dawson spoke with Jim Tokarchuk of the Soil Conservation Council of Canada and University of Manitoba soil science professor David Lobb about this very issue at the Manitoba Soil Science Society’s meeting on Feb. 1, 2018. Watch for more


Dr. David Lobb puts a price tag on cumulative soil degradation in the kickoff event to the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve Soil Health
Committee.

Tillage questions posed for Manitoba

David Lobb with the University of Manitoba is researching the cost of soil degradation

What does soil degradation cost you? Dr. David Lobb hopes the answer to that question will get producers looking more closely at what’s happening under their feet. The University of Manitoba researcher spoke Nov. 15 in Dauphin at the “Soil Health and Your Bottom Line” workshop, hosted by the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve. Lobb estimates

Manitoba sees changing erosion landscape

Manitoba sees changing erosion landscape

Manitoba may not have a lot of topography but Dr. David Lobb says it’s enough for tillage erosion, especially as soybeans expand

As soybean acreage has exploded, new questions about soil erosion are arising. This past spring a record 2.3 million acres were planted and that has soil specialists expressing some concern about increased tillage practices and the soil impact of the new crop. “When you go to crops like soybeans, the ability of the soil to


Bob McIntosh, who farms in Perth County, says it can take a lifetime or longer to repair degraded soils.

Degraded soils cost farmers billions annually

Yet soil care remains a low priority for policy-makers as well as farmers

Farmers have reduced the amount of soil they lose through annual cropping practices, but they continue to carry a costly legacy of degraded soils, a University of Manitoba soil scientist says. David Lobb used crop production data and computer models to estimate how much lost productivity has occurred over the past four decades due to

Editorial: Less water, more grass

A few hundred thousand here, a few million there. Manitoba’s PC government is rightly or wrongly getting plenty of attention for its trimming of the health-care and education systems. But it’s time for this government to start saving some real money. The Red River Basin Commission recently held meetings to mark the 20th anniversary of the


David Lobb, of the University of Manitoba, says flood solutions will include keeping more water on farms, but not necessarily on fields.

On-farm water collection key to drainage management

Other farming practices such as enhancing soil health and better design 
and maintenance of surface drains can also help

Reducing run-off and improving soil health are the best path to address flooding and excess nutrients, according to a University of Manitoba expert on watershed management. These strategies include more collection of surface water before it leaves the farm and adoption of soil management practices that build soil structure and help water infiltrate, says David

The state of Minnesota has made buffer zones mandatory as a way of protecting streams from nutrient run-off. But a Manitoba researcher says they may not be as effective as first believed.

New research raises red flag over buffer strips

A University of Manitoba researcher says riparian buffer 
strips may not be the answer to preventing nutrient run-off

New research from the Univer­­sity of Manitoba raises questions over the effectiveness of buffer strips often used around cropland to filter out nutrients before they reach waterways in run-off. David Lobb, senior research chair for the Watershed Systems Research Program and a University of Manitoba soil science professor, says riparian buffer strips are “highly inefficient”