Get a free soil test

Oct 04, 2023

Farmers can celebrate Ontario’s Agriculture Week with a free soil test.

By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com; Image by niknak09 from Pixabay

Ontario is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Agriculture Week, and The Greenbelt Foundation is celebrating by offering a free soil health testing program.

Although the celebratory week is already half over, The Greenbelt Foundation’s offer with the Soil Health Institute is ongoing.

Via the program, farmers can:

evaluate current soil health and compare it to similar soils in their region;
understand how much healthier their soil can be;
measure and track the impact of different management practices on soil health.

This opportunity is open to grain and oilseed farmers throughout the Golden Horseshoe region—in Hamilton, Halton, and Peel.

In 2024, farmers in Niagara, York, and Durham will be eligible.

Soil health is one of the more important factors that can lead to a successful harvest, improve profits, boost the strength of local food systems, and further Ontario’s ecological sustainability goals.

To sign up for the program, visit: https://www.greenbelt.ca/greenbelt_soil_health.

Video: Democratizing Gene Editing - Pairwise’s Vision for the Future of Agriculture

Pairwise has built its business around an idea that runs counter to how many companies approach innovation: make transformative technology easier to access.

In this Seed World interview, CEO Tom Adams discusses why broader access to gene editing could speed crop improvement, expand innovation opportunities and help agriculture address emerging challenges. He explains why Pairwise believes no single company can solve all of agriculture's problems alone—and why making advanced breeding technologies available to more organizations could accelerate progress across the industry.

The conversation explores how consumer trust influences technology adoption, why innovations like pitless cherries and seedless blackberries matter beyond convenience, and how future crop improvements could help address labor shortages, automation, harvest efficiency and other production challenges. Adams also shares his perspective on what the industry may be underestimating about the next wave of gene editing innovation.

Watch the full interview to hear why Pairwise believes agriculture is approaching an important inflection point for gene editing, and why the pace of innovation over the next decade could surprise the industry.

Topics Covered:

o Democratizing agricultural innovation

o Consumer trust and technology adoption

o The business case for sharing innovation

o Expanding innovation beyond major crops

o Next-generation breeding technologies