Soil conservation has many converts – WP editorial

were redistributed from field and pasture.

The situation seemed a sad irony, coming as it did a few days before

national soil conservation week, designated April 21-27.

Not so, say soil conservation specialists. True, the recent

soil-sifting winds damaged topsoil depth and surface moisture, with

degree depending on region. But the same winds in the same moisture

conditions 20 or even 10 years ago would likely have been disastrous.

The message from experts is this: If western Canadian farmers hadn’t

improved their tillage practices over the last 10 years, we’d be in a

dust bowl akin to that of the Dirty Thirties.

Millions of acres of soil hold their ground, so to speak, testament

that Western Canadian farmers have changed their practices to benefit

themselves, their land and the environment.

Benefits are many: topsoil protection and augmentation, improved soil

health, reduced erosion from wind and runoff, lower fuel and labour

costs.

The message is loud and clear. According to research by the Centre for

Studies in Agricultural Law and the Environment, there was a 325

percent increase between 1990 and 1998 in acreage planted using low

disturbance systems in Western Canada.

Last year in Saskatchewan, 39 percent of seeded acreage was planted

with low disturbance or no-till systems, and an additional 30 percent

was minimum till. Summerfallow acreage has shrunk steadily since 1990.

In Alberta, soil conservation experts estimate about 66 percent of

farmed acreage is direct seeded and another 30 to 34 percent farmed

using low disturbance. Compare that to the mid-1990s, when about 66

percent of cultivated land was in conventional tillage.

Manitoba experts are reluctant to provide percentages, but they agree

the shift is strong toward lower disturbance farming practices.

Saskatchewan is the biggest success story, due in part to its larger

average farm size and its crop mix.

The reduced tillage conversion rate is almost as great in Alberta,

albeit slower in the row-crop and irrigation areas of the south, which

present conservation challenges.

Manitoba’s expanding acreage of crops that require extensive tillage

presents challenges, yet movement continues on improved soil

conservation.

Specialists say farmers no longer question the value of soil

conservation. As equipment, technology and farm chemicals have evolved

to foster better land management, many farmers have made the

conversion. Cost, unfamiliarity with new practices or simple aversion

to change may be delaying conversion for others.

But progress is being made each year. Forget special national

designations – every week is soil conservation week, and western

Canadian farmers are proving they know it.