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Tag Archives soil health

A handful of soil health projects have secured funding for the next five years in the hope of kick starting soil health practices in the field. (Assiniboine Community College photo)
Crops, Weather

Multi-million-dollar fund greenlights soil health projects

Eight projects to push soil health practices will get funding for the next five years

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Eight soil health projects across Canada will be getting a multi-million-dollar boost in private funding over the next five years. The Weston Family Foundation — the philanthropic arm of the Weston business empire — has slated $10 million for those eight projects through the organization’s soil health initiative, it was announced Feb. 13. The initiative
There seems to be some correlation between certain zero-till practices and soil acidification.
Crops, News

Soil acidity a growing issue

Over time a natural chemical reaction to nitrogen can cause an acidic band to develop

By
Most of Manitoba’s soils are considered to be neutral, with pH around 7.0 and being neither acid nor alkaline. If anything there’s a tendency towards the alkaline. That’s why North Dakota State University cropping systems specialist Ryan Buetow’s warning at the recent Manitoba Agronomists’ Conference was unexpected. He says there are pockets of acidity showing
How much diversity in a cover crop is too much?
News

The making of a cover crop mix

How ‘multi-species’ should a multi-species mix get?

By
Michael Thiele wants farmers to design their cover crops for whatever they don’t have in their system. The soil health presenter said during an early January workshop in Minnedosa that for some farmers, that might be soil carbon. For others, it might be nitrogen or soil structure or other soil health traits. On the business
Canada thistles pop through on one of the fields 
still under recovery at Green Beach Farm & Food.
News

Selling the system

Managing with an eye to soil health makes fertile ground for direct marketing

By
The Koscielny family farm near Strathclair doesn’t have many acres to work with but it makes a big impression. The farm, Green Beach Farm & Food, covers five quarters, about 200 acres of which grow grain. Much of the land base is perennial forage, feeding the Koscielny’s herd of grass-fed beef. The family finishes animals
News

Systems clash

Regen ag, consumer messaging and an agricultural schism

By
The point of marketing is to stand out from the crowd. Emphasizing the environmental angle of agricultural direct marketing is one way to do it. Agriculture’s environmental track record is under greater pressure from its customers and government. A recent example is the controversy over the federal government goal to reduce nitrogen fertilizer emissions by
(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)
Weather

Feds open up consultations for sustainable ag strategy

Producer groups to have reps on advisory committee

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The federal government has enlisted farm groups on the ground floor of consultations toward development of a long-term strategy to “amplify” the adoption and use of sustainable practices in agriculture over the next year. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Dec. 12 announced the launch of public consultations on strategy development, running from now through March
Regenerative ag conference hears grazing is vital to environmental outcomes, but that most grain growers don’t want livestock.
News

Cows for crops? Searching for the low-hanging fruit on carbon

Building soil carbon must make sense at the bank and in the work day

By
There are easy starting points to build soil carbon. Getting them to make sense on the balance sheet is another matter. That was one message heard by a panel of grain producers, livestock producers and production experts who gathered at the recent Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association regenerative agriculture conference in Brandon. Why it matters:
Through soil degradation and increased urbanization, we lose an area the size of Scotland every year. Just two per cent of the world’s land area produces 40 per cent of the world’s food.
Comment, Op/Ed

Comment: Soil matters – charting a path forward

Action is needed to preserve and improve soil health, but it must be judicious

By
The following is an excerpt from a statement made by the author to the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry (Status on Soil Health in Canada) meeting, Sept. 22. Since the Senate of Canada “Soil At Risk” report was conceived by Senator Herb Sparrow four decades ago, generally soil management has improved and crop
“I’m seeing nitrogen deficiencies from the bottom leaves right up to the cob," says Manitoba Agriculture soil fertility specialist John Heard.
Crops, News

Soil sampling shows depleted fields

High yields, soil leaching and less N applications due to high prices drew down soil nitrogen this season

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Early soil testing across much of Manitoba shows that most samples have low to very low nitrogen levels. “That is basically informing growers that for next year’s crop, a healthy high rate of nitrogen may be required,” says Manitoba Agriculture soil fertility specialist John Heard. “It’s a far cry from last year when many samples were testing more
Research so far has suggested microplastics play havoc with soil structure, release contaminants and harm the soil biosphere.
Comment, Op/Ed, Other

Comment: The problem of microplastics

Natural fertilizers contain them, yet we know next to nothing about their environmental and health impacts

By
Fertilizer, especially nitrogen, uses a lot of energy in its production, particularly natural gas. That means higher prices as natural gas prices rise, something that’s been kicked into overdrive with the war in Ukraine and Russia’s attempt to blackmail Europe by shutting down its Nord Stream 1 pipeline.  It’s caused many to wonder if there

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