This week marked National Soil Conservation Week

Apr 26, 2023

Whether you're a farmer or a backyard gardener soil is key for food production from the crops and vegetables grown to the grass and forage needed for livestock.

Research has shown that Canadian soil has been severely degraded in recent decades, a major aspect of soil degradation is the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the soil.

According to the Soil Conservation Council of Canada (SCCC), the country lost 3.9 million hectares of farmland between 1972 - 2011 and comes with an economic cost of $3.1 billion annually.

Farmers use various practices to sequester CO2 in the soil with the goal of making the soil healthier and more productive.

Some of those practices include the careful use of fertilizer, zero-till or minimum-till farming, crop rotations, and planting cover crops or inter-cropping.

National Soil Conservation Week is the best way to create awareness around soil health and conservation in Canada.

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Video: Why Invest in Canada’s Seed Future? | On The Brink: Episode 3

Darcy Unger just invested millions to build a brand-new seed plant on his farm in Stonewall, Manitoba so when it’s time for his sons to take over, they have the tools they need to succeed.

Right now, 95% of the genetics they’ll be growing come from Canadian plant breeders.

That number matters.

When fusarium hit Western Canada in the late 90s, it was Canadian breeders who responded, because they understood Canadian conditions. That ability to react quickly to what’s happening on Canadian farms is exactly what’s at risk when breeding programs lose funding.

For farmers like Darcy, who have made generational investments based on the assumption that better genetics will keep coming, the stakes are direct and personal.

We’re on the brink of decisions that will shape our agricultural future for not only our generation, but also the ones to come.

What direction will we choose?

On The Brink is a year-long video series traveling across Canada to meet the researchers, breeders, farmers, seed companies, and policymakers shaping the future of Canadian plant breeding. Each week, a new story. Each story, a piece of the bigger picture.

Episode 3 is above. Follow Seed World Canada to catch every episode, and tell us: Do you think the next generation will have the tools they need to success when they takeover? How is the future going to look?