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



A flooded field in the Interlake in 2013.

North Interlake drainage issues to be addressed

Pilot program aims to improve water management in the RM of Bifrost-Riverton

A recent announcement is a watershed moment for a largely producer-led group seeking to reduce flooding and increase agricultural productivity in Manitoba’s Interlake region. The federal and provincial governments have announced $1 million in Growing Forward 2 funding for a pilot project in the Rural Municipality of Bifrost-Riverton, which aims to improve drainage and address

VIDEO: Tillage erosion and how you can avoid it

VIDEO: Tillage erosion and how you can avoid it

Soil science professor says it can be the most damaging type of soil erosion

You’ve heard of wind and water erosion, but how about tillage erosion? It’s often the worse of the three, says University of Manitoba soil science professor David Lobb, who spoke to Manitoba Co-operator reporter Allan Dawson Feb. 4 at the Manitoba Soil Science Society’s 59th annual meeting in Winnipeg.

Phosphorus recovery can complement source reduction

Phosphorus recovery can complement source reduction

Globally, it's estimated that one-third of all phosphorous applied is lost to water due to erosion, leaching and run-off

A Manitoba engineer says phosphorus (P) recovery methods can be an important addition to the province’s phosphorus management strategies. Francesco Zurzolo, an engineer specializing in nutrient management and reduction with Dillon Consulting, says Manitoba is dealing with eutrophication and destruction of important ecosystems due to P buildup. Zurzolo spoke at the Manitoba Environmental Industries Association’s



soil blowing across a farm field

Editorial: What’s it going to take to stop soil erosion?

Soil erosion still alive and (not) well in Manitoba

You could have mistaken Co-operator reporter Lorraine Stevenson for a coal miner, coated as she was with black dirt, after she ventured out across southern Manitoba during those 70- to 90-kilometre-per-hour winds April 15. But for the modern farm equipment and steel granaries in the background, her photographs of airborne and drifting soil could have