Table of Contents Mandate and 5 Year ThemesMembershipTerms of ReferenceHow to Submit New Recommendations or UpdatesData Requirements to Change RecommendationsFor More Information Mandate 5 Year Themes In particular, the OSMC will concentrate on the following broad themes over the next five years: Membership Membership of the OSMC is comprised of members drawn from government, the […]
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Frequent rains and wet soils across the province have slowed or prevented field work. Soil compaction is likely to be an issue this year, especially for farmers trying to get manure spread ahead of spring planting. Fertilizer has been moving out to farms with storage. Retailers are full and ready to apply product once soil […]
Planting corn directly into a living cover crop before it is killed by herbicide or tillage is not something that would have been considered 30 years ago. However, with advances in planter technology, herbicide options, and a greater awareness of cover crop benefits to soil health, more growers are doing it. According to the 2022-2023 […]
SHAP: Soil Health Assessment & Plan In-Field In-Office Match SHAP to your needs Assess Benchmark 5 Key Soil Health Indicators Improve Find Potential for Improvement Adapt Take a Flexible approach Interpret Use the SHAP Score Calculator to compare your test results to a database of results from similar Ontario soils. Use this benchmark to identify […]
Join the OMAFRA Soil Team and the Ontario Soil Network in London for a full day of collaborative learning. Dive deep into diagnosing and finding solutions for real soil health challenges in a real field! Share learnings and experiences with other soil health professionals, and pick up a great new ideas along the way. A […]
Introduction Soil is the basis of agricultural production. A healthy soil is an essential component of a healthy environment; it is the foundation upon which a sustainable agriculture production system is built. Healthy soils are productive, resilient to stressors, and more resistant to degradation. Soil health refers to the soil’s ability “to support crop growth […]
The soil surface is the interface between the soil and the atmosphere. Its quality – roughness, porosity, stability – determines the rates of exchange of water and gases. Visual assessment of soil surface quality (SSQ) can give an indication of soil health and soil function. A soil surface that has plenty of residue cover, presence […]
This article shares the findings from a 2021 on-farm trial that compared fall cover crop termination with planting green. It was conducted near Hagersville, Ontario, as part of an Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association Tier Two project. Highlights To watch a short video with in-season footage from the trial, click below: Background Information on […]
The value from manure comes in the nutrients provided along with other components that benefit soil health. Manure adds a layer of complexity to fertilizer management, but it also provides benefits to crops that commercial fertilizer on its own cannot provide. Research helps with understanding the principles of how nutrients behave in different environments and […]
Most springs, conversation at some point turns to no-till soybeans and how tough they look compared to their tilled counterparts. 2022 was no exception. With a record corn crop in 2021 and compaction due to a wet fall, there were challenges to contend with in no-till and some fields did get off to a slow […]
Growing cover crop-based organic no-till soybeans requires a different system approach than for standard organic production. Three years of extensive research trials in Ontario have guided the development of four key best practices for growing no-till organic soybeans following a cereal rye cover crop. This tip sheet is designed to provide practical advice for Ontario […]
Soil structure is a key indicator of soil health. The Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) provides a simple framework for quantitatively scoring soil structure quality. It requires only a shovel for extracting a block of soil and a scoring sheet for evaluating it and can be performed in about 10 minutes with a little […]
Did you know that there are two new resources on strip-tillage in Ontario? Earlier this year, OMAFRA released two factsheets on strip-till with information specific to Ontario’s climate, soils, and farmer experiences. The first factsheet, called Strip-Tillage in Ontario: The Basics, provides an overview of strip-till, how it works, crops it’s used for, its benefits […]
The week of April 17-23 is National Soil Conservation Week this year. As the Soil Conservation Council of Canada says, soil is a big deal. It’s the foundation of agriculture. It’s a precious resource and, as I’ve written before, can easily be lost and degraded. To mark this week, I wanted to share some resources […]