The Senate is holding a meeting about soil this morning.
The upper chamber’s Committee on Agriculture and Forestry is studying the status of soil health in Canada, and today the first witnesses spoke to committee members in Ottawa.
“As part of the study, the committee will investigate ways to improve soil-health strategies, help Canadian forestry and agricultural producers become leaders in sustainability and boost the industry’s economic growth,” says a Senate news release, which promotes the beginning of the soil study.
Read Also
Alberta crop diversification centres receive funding
$5.2 million of provincial funding pumped into crop diversity research centres
Senator Robert Black, the agriculture committee chair, has been lobbying for a soil study since he joined the Senate in 2018.
“There’s air and water and soil. There’s lots of focus on air and water. Soil, in my mind, is the (overlooked) second cousin,” Black said in 2019.
Before joining the Senate as an independent from Ontario, Black was the chief executive officer of the Rural Ontario Institute. He is also a past-president of the Canadian 4-H Council, served as general manager for the Ontario Soybean Growers and worked at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture for 15 years.
The Senate conducted a previous study on soil in 1984.
Senator Herbert Sparrow released the report, titled “Soil at Risk: Canada’s eroding future,” which included a list of possible solutions to soil degradation in Canada.
Black remembers talking about the Sparrow report when he was studying agriculture at the University of Guelph.
The updated Senate study will look at the current state of soil in Canada and the role that it can play in mitigating climate change.
The Senate may also report on the value of healthy soil to Canada’s economy.
David Lobb, a University of Manitoba soil scientist, has studied the impact of soil degradation on Canadian crop production.
He found that $3.1 billion worth of crop production capacity is lost, annually, because of soil erosion.
Lobb’s father, Ontario farmer Don Lobb, was the first witness to address the ag committee this morning.
Cedric MacLeod, executive director of the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association, was also scheduled to speak.
Contact robert.arnason@producer.com
