“It’s a critical time that we’re in, relevant to soil erosion, climate change, and everything that we’re doing with technology and innovation is to ensure that soil remains where it is,” said federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald at the announcement on Thursday morning.

“(The Strategy) is going to put an element of integrity on any research that’s being done in the future and hopefully that research can coincide with what we’re seeing here today.”

MacDonald made the announcement alongside Senator Rob Black. Black led a Senate study of soil, published in the report “Critical Ground: Why Soil is Essential to Canada’s Economic, Environmental, Human, and Social Health,” which was published in 2024.

Black also championed Bill S-230, the National Strategy for Soil Health Act, which aims to protect, conserve, and enhance Canadian soils and closely follows the 25 recommendations laid out in Black’s report. That bill passed in the Senate on Thursday evening.

MacDonald said Bill S-230 will inform the strategy.

Government ready to move forward: Black

During Bill S-230’s third reading, Senator Rob Black told the Senate Chamber it was bolstering to know “the government not only supports the bill but is ready to move forward before it is legislated.”

Reading the AAFC’s intention to develop a national soil health strategy during the third reading showed the value of the Senate, he said.

“It also put (the government) on record, on notice that we’re watching,” Black said.

According to Black, work on the strategy to safeguard Canadian soil could begin as early as April and be completed and officially launched by December 2027.  

Collaboration with farmers, industry pledged

Black said that ideally the national strategy will avoid a one-size-fits-all approach. It will include educational support, financial support, peer-to-peer networks, and a position for a national soil health advocate.  He noted that Australia’s soil advocates have been very effective in promoting the adoption of soil health practices, but acknowledged that the position comes with a cost.

Collaboration will play a key role in developing the strategy, with input from the Soil Conservation Council of Canada (SCCC), farmers, the agriculture industry, Indigenous communities, provinces and territories, and related ministries.

Black pointed to the ongoing work by the SCCC to develop a soil strategy, which MacDonald assured the AAFC will take on board rather than “recreating the wheel.”

When asked if this was a foundational step to recognizing soil as a finite resource critical to food security and sovereignty, MacDonald said it was an opportunity to “put a lens on soil health in this country.”

He acknowledged that farmers are among the best land stewards and that the strategy will ensure the work of farmers, Black and the Soil Conservation Council of Canada inform policies going forward.

Healthy soils important for all Canadians: Kruszel

The in-depth research by Black and the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry into Canada’s soil has highlighted the significance of healthy soil and the threats it faces said Alan Kruszel, Soil Conservation Council of Canada’s eastern producer director.

“Healthy soils are so important for producers as well as for all Canadians. Healthy soils provide the majority of the food we eat,” said Kruszel. “Soils help to purify our water, to clean our air and provide habitats for all kinds of life.”

Kruszel said the agriculture sector provides one in nine jobs nationally. Investment in soil health is ongoing through research, farm organizations, input suppliers and other groups to support the adoption of sustainable on-farm practices.

“Our intention through the National Soil Health Strategy is to optimize those investments through collaborations,” Kruszel said. “And collectively working to identify gaps in research, measurement, education and extension, and of course, resources while establishing priority actions that we can all work on.”

-Updated March 27. Clarifies that the government’s commitment to the soil strategy is separate from the passing of Bill S-230. Adds further comments from Black.

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But beyond the news about grain blockades lies a deeper, slower-moving crisis: the depletion of the very nutrients that make Ukraine’s fertile black soil so productive.

While the ongoing war has focused global attention on Ukraine’s food supply chains, far less is known about the sustainability of the agricultural systems that underpin them.

Ukraine’s soil may no longer be able to sustain the country’s role as one of the major food producers without urgent action. And this could have consequences that stretch far beyond its borders.

In our research, we have examined nutrient management in Ukrainian agriculture over the past 40 years and found a dramatic reversal of nutrient levels.

Pre-war: showing signs of strain

During the Soviet era, Ukraine’s farmland was excessively fertilized. Nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were applied at levels far beyond what crops could absorb. This led to pollution of the air and water.

But since independence in 1991, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. Fertilizer use, especially phosphorus and potassium, plummeted as imports fell, livestock numbers declined (reducing manure availability) and supply chains collapsed.

By 2021, just before the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian soil was already showing signs of strain. Farmers were adding much less phosphorus and potassium than the crops were taking up, around 40–50 per cent less phosphorus and 25 per cent less potassium, and the soil’s organic matter had dropped by almost nine per cent since independence.

In many regions, farmers applied too much nitrogen, but often too little phosphorus and potassium to maintain long-term fertility. Moreover, although livestock numbers have declined significantly over the past decades, our analysis shows that about 90 per cent of the manure still produced is wasted. This is equivalent to roughly US$2.2 billion (C$3.01 billion) in fertilizer value each year.

These nutrient imbalances are not just a national issue. They threaten Ukraine’s long-term agricultural productivity and, by extension, the global food supply that depends on it.

The war has sharply intensified the problem. Russia’s invasion has disrupted fertilizer supply chains and damaged storage facilities. Fertilizer prices have soared. Many farmers deliberately applied less fertilizer in 2022-2023 to reduce financial risks, knowing that their harvests could be destroyed, stolen or left unsold due to blocked export routes.

Our new research shows alarming trends across the country. In 2023, harvested crops took up to 30 per cent more nitrogen, 80 per cent more phosphorus and 70 per cent more potassium from the soil than they received through fertilization, soil microbes and from the air (including what comes down in rain and what settles onto the ground from the air).

If these trends continue, Ukraine’s famously fertile soil could face lasting degradation, threatening the country’s capacity to recover and supply global food markets once peace returns.

Rebuilding soil fertility

Some solutions exist and many are feasible even during wartime. Our research team has developed a plan for Ukrainian farmers that could quickly make a difference. These measures could substantially improve nutrient use efficiency and reduce wasted nutrients, keeping farms productive and profitable, while reducing soil degradation and environmental pollution.

• These proposed solutions include:
• Precision fertilization – applying fertilizers at the right time, place and amount to match crop needs efficiently
• Enhanced manure use – setting up local systems to collect surplus manure and redistribute it to other farms, reducing dependence on (imported) synthetic fertilizers
• Improved fertilizer use – applying enhanced-efficiency fertilizers that release nutrients slowly, reducing losses to air and water
• Planting legumes (such as peas or soybeans) – including these in crop rotations, improves soil health while adding nitrogen naturally

Some of these actions require investment, such as better facilities for storage, treatment and better application of manure to fields, but many can be rolled out, at least partially, without too much extra funding.

Ukraine’s recovery fund, backed by the World Bank to help Ukraine after the war ends, includes support for agriculture, and this could play a key role here.

Why it matters beyond Ukraine

Ukraine’s nutrient crisis is a warning for the world. Intensive, unbalanced farming, whether through overuse, under use or misuse of fertilizers, is unsustainable. Nutrient mismanagement contributes to both food insecurity and environmental pollution.

Our research is part of the forthcoming International Nitrogen Assessment, which highlights the need for effective global nitrogen management and showcases practical options to maximise the multiple benefits of better nitrogen use – improved food security, climate resilience, and water and air quality.

In the rush to ensure cheap food and stable exports, we must not overlook the foundations of long-term agricultural productivity: healthy, fertile soils.

Supporting Ukraine’s farmers offers a chance not only to rebuild a nation but also to change global agriculture to help create a more resilient, sustainable future.

—Mark Sutton is a honourary professor in the University of Edinburgh’s School of Geosciences. Sergiy Medinets is a biogeochemist at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

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Senator Rob Black sponsored Bill S-230, An Act Respecting the Development of a National Strategy for Soil Health Protection, Conservation and Enhancement. If passed, it would mandate the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and other relevant ministers, to develop a national soil health strategy.

It also includes measures to recognize soil as a strategic national asset necessary to food security.

Black has been a long-time advocate for soil health. Last year, the Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry released a report titled Critical Ground: Why Soil is Essential to Canada’s Economic, Environmental, Human, and Social Health. This report was the basis for a number of recommendations in the Senate bill.

Recommendations include appointing a National Advocate for Soil Health, and developing targets and resources to improve soil health.

Speaking on the bill in the Senate, Black thanked former MP Alistair MacGregor for tabling a bill on soil conservation in the last session of the House of Commons.

“Although the bill did not make it beyond first reading and we weren’t able to study the bill in either chamber, I’m hopeful Bill S-230 honours his commitment to protecting soil in Canada.”

He also spoke about concerns heard from Canadian producers over the loss of farmland and soil health to housing developments and infrastructure development.

“Canada does not have an unlimited supply of farmland. We are privileged to have the land we have now, that has healthy, arable soils that can be used for farming and food production.”

Senator Black’s full speech on the bill can be watched on YouTube.

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Farmers in the province have planted 18 per cent of the expected 2025 crop as of May 5, as reported in the province’s first crop report of the season released on May 8. The five-year average at this time of year was 10 per cent, while the 10-year average was 12 per cent. Producers took advantage of dry weather in the final two weeks of April despite storms throughout the rest of the month.

The most rainfall during the week ended May 5 was reported around Alida in the southeast corner of the province at 16 millimetres.

The southwest region was 43 per cent complete, followed by the northwest at 15 per cent, the southeast at 14 per cent, the west-central region at 11 per cent and the east-central and northeast regions at nine per cent.

Saskatchewan’s lentil crop was 34 per cent planted, with durum (33 per cent), triticale (31 per cent) and field peas (31 per cent) not far behind. Chickpeas were 28 per cent planted, while mustard was at 21 per cent. Barley and spring wheat crops were 19 per cent and 13 per cent planted, respectively. Canola was 10 per cent seeded, followed by flax (six per cent), perennial forage (five per cent), canary seed (four per cent), oats (four per cent) and soybeans (less than one per cent).

Topsoil moisture for cropland was rated at three per cent surplus, 78 per cent adequate, 16 per cent short and three per cent very short. Moisture for hayland was reported at one per cent surplus, 71 per cent adequate, 22 per cent short and six per cent very short. Pasture topsoil moisture conditions were reported at one per cent surplus, 68 per cent adequate, 23 per cent short and eight per cent very short.

Spring runoff was reported in late April, with provincial data indicating 30 per cent below normal, 55 per cent normal and 15 per cent above normal. Seventy-six per cent of crop reporters said that the amount of runoff received would be sufficient to replenish dugouts and other water bodies within their area. But 52 per cent of respondents in the southwest region said the amount of runoff may not be sufficient to replenish dugouts within their area.

Six per cent of pastures were in excellent condition in late April, 42 per cent were reported to be in good condition, 36 per cent were reported as fair, 13 per cent were reported as poor, and three per cent were very poor.

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Based on data from over 1,000 regional studies combined with machine learning, researchers estimated that as many as 1.4 billion people live in areas with soil dangerously polluted by heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, nickel and lead. The study revealed a global risk, but also a previously unrecognized high-risk, metal-enriched zone in low-latitude Eurasia in particular.

The growth in demand for critical metals means toxic heavy metal pollution in soils is only likely to worsen.

“We hope that the global soil pollution data presented in this report will serve as a scientific alert for policymakers and farmers to take immediate and necessary measures to better protect the world’s precious soil resources,” said the study authors led by Deyi Hou of Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Toxic heavy metal pollution in soil, originating from both natural sources and human activities, poses significant risks to ecosystems and human health. Once introduced into soils, such metals can persist over decades. These pollutants reduce crop yields, affect biodiversity and jeopardize water quality as well as food safety through bioaccumulation in farm animals.

The researchers estimate that 14 to 17 per cent of cropland globally — roughly 242 million hectares — is contaminated by at least one toxic metal, with cadmium being the most widespread, especially in South and East Asia, parts of the Middle East and Africa.

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The agency operated on the Prairies from 1935 to 2009 and was instrumental in helping farmers address soil erosion and drought they experienced during the 1930s.

“Implementing livestock initiatives and educating citizens in cutting-edge agricultural techniques, the success of the PFRA was a complicated and mostly co-operative effort among all levels of government and citizens,” said a government backgrounder about the announcement of 10 designated people, places and events.

“Initially envisioned as temporary and established among several different Depression-era federal initiatives, the PFRA became a permanent function of government for more than 70 years and played a role in important irrigation and water development projects in the Prairie provinces.”

PFRA owned and operated many dams and reservoirs, along with community pastures, that were turned over to other agencies or provinces after it was dismantled.

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Nick Betts, CANZA’s managing director, announced the project Monday morning at CANZA’s Seeding New Ground event in Ottawa.

“For the last year, CANZA has been working on understanding how we can measure soil carbon and soil nutrition in a way that works for farmers (at) a lower cost, that can still meet global reporting requirements verification requirements,” Betts said.

The $4 million project is funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) along with partners Maple Leaf Foods and Nutrien Ag Solutions.

“We did this at a pilot stage in 2023/2024,” Betts said. “What was announced this morning was an opportunity … thanks to Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, to take this to the next level.”

CANZA conducted two pilot projects in Saskatchewan and Manitoba to test out its MRV Framework. The framework was developed in collaboration with the Smart Prosperity Institute (SPI), informed by a four year AAFC-funded research project at SPI. CANZA said in a release the results of these pilots provided critical and positive insights into the framework’s effectiveness, accuracy and scalability.

The $4-million project aims to expand upon the MRV framework and the 5,000 acres tested in Saskatchewan to 15,000 acres across four different locations in the province. CANZA said with its partners, it will facilitate three activities: 1) optimizing the soil sampling process; 2) developing a handheld, in-field MRV tool; and 3) facilitating knowledge sharing of the MRV system. CANZA said farmers and agronomists will also be engaged in this project “as critical partners in testing and demonstrating the processes and tools ” which will help ensure the MRV system’s effectiveness and widespread adoption.

Tim Faveri, vice-president of Sustainability & Stakeholder Relations at Nutrien said the initiative is “very farm-centred” and will allow producers to”make thier business choices and provide tools for them to be successful and monetize their practices.”

CANZA said the goal of the program is to develop a “regionally relevant, cost-effective, and scalable MRV system” which aims to “enable farmers to quickly and cost-effectively measure the environmental outcomes of their climate-smart farming practices.”

Farmers can monetize outcomes by selling credits to companies looking to offset emissions or “increase the profitability of their commodity within their value chain or other sectors.”

Kathleen Sullivan, vice-president of Government Relations at Maple Leaf Foods, said this initiative would contribute to Maple Leaf’s vision “to be the most sustainable protein company in the world.”

“By developing advanced MRV tools and processes, we are together taking a significant step towards a more sustainable, and really importantly, a more profitable future for Canadian agriculture,” she said.

Betts said the purpose of this project is to give producers “another tool in their toolbox, to be able to value environmental outcomes, value the carbon in their soil, but also understand what their soil competition system looks like in a better way, so they can manage it better and get better yields.”

He said farmers are already doing a great job, “but if we can make it even easier, it’s going to make it even easier for them to stay afloat, build a secure system, give them profit.”

He said the need for this program came from CANZA’s partners.

“One of the core pieces they wanted to work on was climate smart agriculture and understand, what does it mean to measure carbon in a field?”

“We’re not very good at measuring what it means when we’re talking about a rotational crop,” Betts said, “so taking that and giving farmer credit for what they’re actually putting in the ground and storing for the rest of us is going to be really a key piece of giving them the value they need.”

AAFC contributed $2 million to the project from the Agricultural Clean Technology Program – Research and Innovation Stream. Nutrien and Maple Leaf Foods matched these funds.

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“We’re making an assumption that sustainability isn’t going away,” said Bryan Prystupa, senior product owner for FCC AgExpert. “Regardless of campaign slogans or what political colour is leading our country, if we focus on the value we can deliver for the farmer, none of that should matter.”

Prystupa was talking about AgExpert’s new feature at Manitoba Ag Days 2025 in Brandon on Wednesday.

AgExpert is two different, but related software products. AgExpert Accounting, which Prystupa describes as similar to QuickBooks, delves into the bookkeeping and financial management of a farm. AgExpert Field is a field record keeping tool that tracks things like field boundaries, yield data, and various other activities associated with farming to help calculate that cost of production. The sustainability tool is an option that was recently added to AgExpert Field.

Basically, the tool takes the data already being collected to track production costs and creates reports that give farmers insights into their net carbon footprint.

“It can estimate the carbon my farm sequestered last year and the history of my soil organic carbon going as far back as 40 years, all with two clicks,” said Prystupa.

He stressed that greenhouse gas emissions are only half of the equation.

“It was very important for us to also measure the carbon sequestration getting pumped into the dirt, the soil organic carbon, thanks to the crops, the pastureland and the tree belt.”

Prystupa said the developers made certain that the sustainability feature is non-judgmental. It won’t tell a farmer that they need to do better. “We are neutral,” he said, adding that the feature is also optional. “If there’s interest by a user, great and if there isn’t, no sweat either.”

Read more about AgExpert’s sustainability tool in an upcoming print edition. For more stories on Manitoba Ag Days 2025, visit, our landing page.

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Yet many farmers are now raising concerns about the rapid degradation of these soils over the last few years. This is happening so quickly they could potentially disappear in a period of 50 years.

This situation, which is unfolding worldwide, is alarming. Organic soils are among the pillars of food self-sufficiency in Québec, as elsewhere, and are essential to producing the vegetables that we eat every day. So it is crucial to stop their degradation.

Fortunately, our research work at Laval University’s Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, carried out in partnership with 14 vegetable farms, offers a glimmer of hope for ensuring the sustainability of these soils.

Degradation by the forces of nature

Organic soils are characterized by their high content of organic matter, which ranges from 30 per cent to almost 100 per cent. They consist mainly of plant residues, similar to compost, and are formed in peatlands, where the soil is gorged with water. High water content prevents oxygen from entering the soil and slowing down the decomposition of hydrophilic plant residues that accumulate over time.

The first essential step in cultivating these soils is drainage, i.e. removing the water from the soil. At this point, oxygen is introduced, an essential element for plant growth. However, the entry of oxygen accelerates the activity of soil microorganisms, which in turn, breaks down the accumulated organic matter. Organic soil carbon, the main constituent of organic matter, is then transformed into CO (carbon dioxide), which is dissipated into the air. The accumulated organic matter gradually disappears as a result. This microbial decomposition leads to the loss of around one centimetre of organic soil per year.

In addition to soil loss, decomposition by microbes also alters the quality of soil. Soil that is initially composed of plant fibres is gradually transformed into fine, ash-like particles. This finer material causes the soil to become more compact and less aerated, which slows down water and air exchange essential to the growth of agricultural plants. These fine particles are also easily carried away by the wind, accelerating soil loss.

At the present time almost 16 per cent of the land area of cultivated organic soil in Québec’s Montérégie region is already considered thin and highly degraded due to heavy decomposition. This is an alarming finding for the future of vegetable production, especially if this proportion increases.

The region’s farmers, the first to witness this degradation, are looking for solutions to protect their land.

A nature-based solution

In the past, the main method recommended for conserving organic soils was applying copper to slow down the decomposition by microbes. Copper can inhibit the activity of enzymes produced by microorganisms, which is like slowing down their digestive system.

However, our work revealed that this approach was not very effective. The method also poses a risk of environmental contamination due to the potential dispersion of copper in natural environments.

The new approach we propose is based on the natural principle of photosynthesis. Through this process, plants use energy from the sun and CO from the air to produce plant tissue. Plants then transform the CO in the air into organic carbon, the main constituent of organic matter. This process is, therefore, the opposite of decomposition.

Straw and wood are particularly rich in organic matter and organic carbon. That’s why we’ve decided to concentrate on using these materials, which are produced on land of low fertility, harvested and then applied to organic soils to add carbon.

Straw and wood to the rescue

Our research has shown that applying straw or wood chips to organic soils can compensate for the carbon and soil losses caused by microbial decomposition. What’s more, when mixed with soil in appropriate doses, straw and wood chips have the potential to restore the soil aeration and drainage that are essential for good vegetable growth.

However, as the addition of new organic matter to the soil stimulates microbial activity, doses must be adjusted to avoid creating too much competition between plants and soil microbes for certain essential elements, such as nitrogen. So it is important to apply the appropriate doses to maintain a balance between the needs of the soil microbes and of the plants.

As a result, this practice holds the potential to regenerate cultivated organic soils and improve the climatic footprint of vegetables in Québec and elsewhere.

In parallel, we have also explored the use of polyphenols in slowing down decomposition. These molecules, produced by plants, are known to slow down the activity of degradative enzymes in natural organic soils, but their use for cultivated organic soils had not been studied. This approach has shown promising potential but requires further study before it can be applied on a large scale. For the time being, our studies have been limited to a small number of soils, which does not allow us to generalize the conclusions on a large scale.

Our team is also carrying out work on wind erosion and drainage to enable the conservation and restoration of these central soils in vegetable production.

Mobilizing the farming community

Aware of the urgent need to take action to save their soils, farmers have already begun applying straw and wood chips to their land to preserve this limited and fragile resource for future generations. They have also joined together to take part in another research program, from 2024 to 2029, which will work to optimize this solution.

This initiative has gained the attention of international farmers and researchers who have come from England, Belgium, Finland and Sweden to visit the Québec farms where this new practice has been adopted.

The degradation of cultivated organic soils is a worldwide phenomenon that threatens to wipe out many highly fertile agricultural production areas. So it is important to take an interest and act quickly.

—Karolane Bourdon, Jacynthe Dessureault-Rompré, Jean and Josée Fortin are researchers in Laval University’s department of Agricultural and Food Sciences

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In a one-hour presentation at the Western Canada Conference on Soil Health and Grazing in Edmonton, Alta. on December 12, he passed some of that knowledge on to conference attendees.

“If you own soil, we have to be able to look at what we’re doing and be able to see the changes. The power of observation is many times much greater than the data that goes with that observation,” Bieber said at the start of his presentation.

Bieber is a retired farmer from South Dakota, U.S. He travels the world, talking and teaching about soil health. Though his son has now taken over their operation, known as Soil Care, Bieber is still passionate about farming and soil.

When he started, though, it wasn’t to fix his soil – it was to cut costs and increase profits. The benefits to his soil came along with that.

To him, the most important part of soil health is letting the biology in the soil do what comes naturally.

“I’m just basically asking my soil biology, ‘do your job,’” Bieber said.

He said he saw the most success on their operation by doing a combination of long-term no-till and cover cropping. It’s important to keep the soil covered, to protect the biology, he said. If the soil is exposed, then the  soil’s biology will be disturbed by things like rain and chemicals.

“Look at tillage as being a disturbance, and it is,” Biever said. “That’s a physical disturbance. But we also have our biological disturbances, the herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, pesticides, they’re biological disturbances that cause the biology to not perform in balances.”

Bieber also used a version of adaptive rotational grazing, with both pastureland and on their cover crops. He said cows help with soil health because they move organic matter around with their grazing.

“These are our biological distributors because they’re taking what’s out on that native range land, and they’re bringing it out, and they’re spreading it very uniformly throughout our field,” he said. “That’s all we need. We don’t need to have that full coverage of manure out there, as long as we have it like that.”

Bieber said in addition to the cattle, the diversity of the plants grown has to support what the livestock bring to the land. He says it is important to listen to what your land is telling you and then to respond.

“We keep getting told, ‘Do it here, do it there. This is how to do it.’ But we never get the answers of why, and your soils will tell you the why.”

The Western Canada Conference on Grazing and Soil Health ended Thursday afternoon after three days and over 15 speakers. Topics ranged from cover crops and intercrops, grazing methods, types of forages to use, microbes and microbiomes and more.

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