During December, the United Nations is turning international attention to the growing risks facing the world’s soils.  It has designated December 5th as World Soil Day, with a theme of Caring for Soils: Measure, Monitor, Manage.  In Canada, the long-term health and sustainability of our soils is also an issue, particularly with the growing demand for food production and the impact of climate change.  Below is some of the work Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientists are doing to measure, monitor and manage this priceless resource. 

Soil in the fast lane (Nationwide): Dr. Xiaoyuan Geng manages the Canadian Soil Information Service, the country’s leading source of soil data for more than 50 years.  The collection has been built from the ground up, from field probes and hand-collected soil samples to radar-carrying planes and satellite imaging.  It has now introduced computerized machine learning, a move Dr. Geng says is transforming their work, making it faster and more efficient to see how Canadian soil is being affected – and will be - by climate change and the increasing demands of food production.    

Fingerprinting soil (Prairies): Dr. Mervin St. Luce (Swift Current) and Dr. Stephen Crittenden (Brandon) are soil researchers who are using technologies to better understand our soils.  By shining visible to infrared and mid-infrared light at soil samples, a process called spectroscopy, they can estimate within minutes the levels of organic carbon, nitrogen, pH and texture, as well as other soil properties.  The process is faster and cheaper than traditional chemical analysis.  It also creates digital copies, or fingerprints, that can be saved in spectral libraries.  On the Prairies, home to 80 per cent of Canada’s arable land, the Prairie Soil Spectral Library is giving researchers rapid, detailed insights into the region’s soils.  

The impact of living soil: (Nationwide): Fredericton-based researcher Dr. Louis-Pierre Comeau is working to advance our understanding of the link between soil biodiversity and the soil’s ability to capture carbon.  He’s leading the Canadian Soil Biome Survey, part of the Canadian Soil Biodiversity Observatory. By sampling soil across Canada, researchers are exploring how soil organisms influence carbon emissions, crop productivity and the impact of climate change. The Observatory’s next major project is surveying northern ecosystems, including land that could become suitable for agriculture as a result of climate change.  The goal of these studies is to understand the potential of soil biodiversity and carbon capture in different ecosystems, guiding sustainable land use planning and climate change strategies. 

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada December 5, 2024 news release