Category: Uncategorized

Members in the News

Posted on by Tanya Craddock

SCCC Director shares his soil health experience in PEI

EARTH DAY: P.E.I. soil health measures appear to have stopped declines in soil organic matter

Vernon Campbell believes there is always going to be a trade-off in terms of soil health and farming.

Where there is farming, there is tillage of the soil, says Campbell, whose potato, beef and dairy farm is based near Summerfield, P.E.I.

“With potatoes or any vegetable crop, you can’t not till them. There’s got to be a certain amount of tillage,” Campbell said. “Tillage is the enemy of organic matter.”

Read the full article here

Senator Rob Black Lays the Groundwork for Future Soil Study

Posted on by Brittany Thibaudeau

The Honourable Rob Black

Independent Senator (Ontario)

News Release

Senator Rob Black lays the groundwork for future soil study

Winnipeg, October 2, 2019 – The Honourable Rob Black, Senator for Ontario, took part in the Soil Conservation Council of Canada’s (SCCC) Summit on Canadian Soil Health in Winnipeg this week. Today he participated in a panel entitled, “Setting the course for the future”.

Black is pleased to see a renewed interest in soil conservation, with several events and initiatives across Canada focusing on the topic in recent months. However, as he reminded summit attendees, usable Canadian soil is decreasing at a rapid rate and the trend must be reversed in order for us to be able to feed future generations.

Black recognizes that it is often difficult for farmers to engage in sustainable practices due to economic barriers. For this reason, he believes that the government needs to take a leading role. According to Black, the government should lead an initiative to collect and analyze data on soils, which would hopefully inform an in-depth plan to restore and protect this precious resource.

Upon the return of the Senate following the federal election, Black hopes that the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry will undertake a study on soil health.

“There are soil experts across Canada,” said Black, “and we need to start listening to them. A Senate study would offer that opportunity.” Such a study would allow committee members to hear from soil scientists, agricultural organizations, and other experts, and then provide the government with a comprehensive list of recommendations.

Since 1987, the Soil Conservation Council of Canada has been advocating for soil conservation, the only Canadian organization to do so at the national level. Their bi-annual Summits on Canadian Soil Health bring together soil experts, industry stakeholders, conservation organizations, educators, and other interested parties to discuss the current state of Canadian soil and plan for the future. On Tuesday, participants toured various sites near Winnipeg to observe soil conservation practices. On Wednesday, they heard from expert panels about several aspects of soil health.

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Communiqué de presse en français disponible ICI

English press release available HERE

For more information:

Kimberly Roper

Office of the Honourable Rob Black Kimberly.Roper@sen.parl.gc.ca

Tel: 613-943-3416

Hey Canada: It’s now time to dig up your undies

Posted on by SCCC18

July 26, 2018 – With all the excitement of soiling your undies this spring as part of the Soil Conservation Council of Canada’s (SCCC) Soil Your Undies campaign, you may have forgotten that it’s a two part experiment. It’s now time to go back into your garden, field or flower bed and dig up those cotton undergarments. We hope you marked that location with a flag or else it might take a few tries to uncover them.

“The Council was thrilled by the amount of interest in Soil Your Undies this year,” says SCCC chair, Alan Kruszel. “From coast-to-coast, Canadians garnered a greater appreciation for the precious resource right under their feet by burying a pair of undies on their own. We can’t wait to see the results of all the underwear that will be unearthed in the next little while.”

During National Soil Conservation Week in April, the SCCC buried its official pair of Stanfield’s undies at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum in Ottawa, and as predicted, there wasn’t much left but the elastic waistband on that pair of briefs – a key indicator of healthy, living soil. The official unearthing was all caught on camera and a video to show our own findings can be found at: http://soilcc.ca/soilyourundies/2017/soil-your-undies.php

“Soil Your Undies really helped people stop thinking of soil as dirt and start thinking of it as a living, breathing entity,” Kruszel, who was on hand to dig up SCCC’s undies says. “If you care for the soil, it will care for you. It’s time Canadians realize just how important soil is to our society. Not only does healthy soil provide us food, fuel and fibre, it also plays an essential role in maintaining fresh air, clean water, and extensive biodiversity. In fact, the future of our civilization will depend on how well we take care of this six inches of fragile soil.”

For those who dig up undies and find them not as deteriorated as they’d like, there are some steps you can take to try to improve the health of your soil.

  • Have your soil tested by a reputable soil lab to understand important parameters such as pH and organic matter.
  • Add organic material like manure, compost, or crop residues.
  • Keep the soil covered with something living for as long as possible.
  • Reduce tillage.

Be sure to share your experiments with us on social media by tagging @SoilCouncil or using the hashtag #SoilYourUndies. We hope all we see is a great deal of waistbands. If you didn’t get a pair in the ground yet, there’s still time. Follow our simple instructions at http://soilcc.ca/soilyourundies/2017/soil-your-undies.php to get started and let us know how it goes. Soiling your undies has never been more fun.