April 1, 2017
Soil health report released
Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner, Dianne Saxe, has released a technical report, Putting Soil Health First: A Climate-Smart Idea for Ontario. The report shows how healthy soils can mitigate climate change, while also increasing yields, protecting the environment and increasing farm profits. On average, Ontario agricultural soils have suffered serious losses of organic matter in the last 30 years. This reduces soils’ ability to absorb and hold water and nutrients, so they dry out faster in droughts and become flooded and erode easily in heavy rain. Fortunately, soil carbon can be built up by better farming practices; the reports profiles several farmers who are leaders in enhancing soil health.