Organic farmers invited to soil health benchmarking study

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Published: May 15, 2024

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Organic farmers across the country are invited to measure the benefits of soil management practices on their farms as part of a study led by Prairie organic organizations.

The three-year project is funded by SaskOrganics, the Prairie Organics Development Fund, and will be conducted by organics researcher Martin Entz at the University of Manitoba.

“We want to help farmers understand how soil health interventions that they may be interested in and are employing on their organic farms actually affect the soil health and the productivity of their systems,” Entz said.

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To be eligible, farms must either be certified organic or transitioning to organic and must be implementing some sort of soil best management practice on their farm—e.g. a new cover crop. While the study is spearheaded by Prairie groups, farmers across Canada can apply, Entz said.

Farmers will be guided to send in soil and biomass samples from the area on which the management practice is applied, and from untouched soil. Samples will be lab tested, either at the University of Manitoba or other participating labs, Entz said. The farmers will then be sent reports of the results.

There is no charge for participation.

While the goal is to provide benchmarks for individual farms, Entz added, the tests will add data to their pool of knowledge and may reveal patterns.

Interested farmers should contact SaskOrganics at [email protected].

About the author

Geralyn Wichers

Geralyn Wichers

Digital editor, news and national affairs

Geralyn graduated from Red River College's Creative Communications program in 2019 and launched directly into agricultural journalism with the Manitoba Co-operator. Her enterprising, colourful reporting has earned awards such as the Dick Beamish award for current affairs feature writing and a Canadian Online Publishing Award, and in 2023 she represented Canada in the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists' Alltech Young Leaders Program. Geralyn is a co-host of the Armchair Anabaptist podcast, cat lover, and thrift store connoisseur.

 

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