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Key Issues

Soil Quality

Soil, naturally formed from existing parent material such as eroded rock and dead organic matter, must be sustainably managed because it is not quickly replaced. Soils provide many valuable services to society. Their value as a medium for crop production has long been recognized, and their degradation, as might result from wind and water erosion, salinization, loss of organic matter, or compaction, is a concern in every agricultural region of Canada. Farmers depend on healthy soil for their livelihood, and therefore have a direct economic incentive to ensure it is sustained as a medium for growing crops. Less well known are other ways in which agricultural soils benefit society, such as by providing habitat for some species, retaining and filtering water, and by sequestering carbon, thus helping mitigate the greenhouse effect. Through good soil management practices, farmers can enhance such public benefits of soils. Canada's farmers have, in general, considerably improved the sustainability of their soil management practices on land used for crops and grazing.

Agri-environmental indicators related to soil quality include the Risk of Water Erosion, Risk of Wind Erosion, Risk of Tillage Erosion, Soil Organic Carbon, Risk of Soil Compaction and the Risk of Soil Salinization. The Agri-Environmental indicator project found that the management of agricultural soils in Canada has improved overall between 1981 and 1996, with an associated reduction in most risks of soil degradation.

From Agriculuture and Agri-Food Canada.