Soil health is the foundation of productive and sustainable agriculture. For farmers, accurate soil information is more than just data. Having access to accurate soil information is essential for making informed decisions about crop selection, farm management, and land stewardship. With better access to reliable soil data, farmers can improve productivity, reduce input costs, and make more sustainable choices for their land.
Farmers across Ontario now have access to the Ontario Soils GeoHub – a new, free online platform developed by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA) to help farmers make better use of soil data. The easy-to-use site brings together soil data from provincial and federal sources to help farmers discover, visualize, and download relevant soil information products – no sign-up or login required. This initiative is part of a three-year $9.5 million investment launched in 2023 to support farmers in adopting advanced technologies that enhance soil health, increase productivity, and boost profitability.
The virtual hub includes a wide range of soil data including historical soil survey reports and maps, a recently released topsoil report with an interactive dashboard, and a Mapping Ontario’s Soils page that outlines the past, present, and future of Ontario soils data. There is also a Soils Spatial Search which lets you select your location on a map and view detailed soil information for your area. This includes data on slope, soil texture, CLI rating, stoniness, drainage type, soil hydrologic group, and drainage design code. These soil datasets can be used to improve farm productivity and inform land management practices to promote on-farm soil health. For example, soil texture maps can help identify areas at risk of soil compaction.
The newest additions to the Soils GeoHub are pilot digital soil maps. Digital soil mapping (DSM) is a new approach to soil mapping that maps soil variability more accurately and with higher precision. It uses georeferenced soil samples (soil samples with a GPS location) and environmental data to generate maps of specific soil properties (e.g., pH, soil texture) at a high spatial resolution. Digital soil maps describe soil variability at a high resolution and can predict soil change in three dimensions, allowing farmers to view important soil properties such as pH levels, total organic carbon content, cation exchange capacity, and soil texture at different depths. Initial digital soil maps have been developed for the Ottawa region using a pilot dataset to gather user feedback. The long-term objective is to expand this effort to create comprehensive digital soil maps covering all of Ontario’s agricultural lands. On the online dashboard, you can find links to download the technical geospatial Ottawa soil maps directly, you can view them online and print PDFs of the digital soil maps for your area of interest.
The Ontario Soils GeoHub will continue to be updated with more soil data as it becomes available. OMAFA invites you to explore the site, see what’s available, and share your thoughts through the feedback form online. Your input helps shape this resource to better serve Ontario’s farmers.