Just how healthy is Alberta's soil? A new database aims to find out
‘The more carbon we can store in the soil, the healthier crops we can grow’
CBC Alberta and Saskatchewan have teamed up for a new pilot series on weather and climate change on the Prairies. Meteorologist Christy Climenhaga will bring her expert voice to the conversation to help explain weather phenomena and climate change and how it impacts everyday life.
The first step in mitigating climate change is understanding where we are in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.
In an area as vast as the Prairies, a big piece of the puzzle is how rural regions contribute to our emissions and storage balance — and where is there room for growth.
That big question is one Derek MacKenzie hopes to answer with a new soil database research project
"There's a huge potential for soils to store more carbon and there's huge potential for alternate agricultural practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," says MacKenzie, an associate professor of soil science at the University of Alberta.
He is leading a two-year initiative studying the health of Alberta's soil.
"There's a huge potential for agriculture to mitigate climate change and be part of the solution of climate change."
Unearthing archives
MacKenzie says this database project started with an archived collection of samples from the Government of Alberta.
Between 1997 and 2007, soil samples were collected at 42 sites across Alberta and tested for things like salinity, fertility and total organic matter content.
MacKenzie says that using those samples and resampling those sites with current techniques will allow researchers to study the genetic makeup of the soil and ability for soils to store carbon in the long term.
"That means adding things like microbial genomic diversity in soils … small insects and soil diversity and carbon stability in soils."
More than just dirt
Soil health can be complicated, going beyond just getting enough sun and water. According to MacKenzie, it comes down to sustainable soil function and depends on what your goals are for the soil.
In his opinion, the soil functions for agriculture should include crop productivity as well as carbon sequestration, microbial diversity and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
"Soils have the potential to store massive amounts of carbon. And looking at just total carbon doesn't tell you the full story. It doesn't tell you how easy that carbon is to decompose or not to decompose," MacKenzie says.
But gaining a complete understanding of the health of our soil can be tricky. Through this new database, MacKenzie's goal is to help producers gain an understanding of what they are working with.
"The database itself is going to integrate not just soil data but weather data, yield data, land value data, all kinds of different data points … that are related to soil health and that might inform management in the future."
MacKenzie says it will be a jumping off point for producers to be able to both access and share information.
"Individual producers will be able to upload [results of] any soil testing that they have had done," he says. "Neighbours will be helping neighbours with management practices and with data."
And as more data is shared, MacKenzie says producers can learn about management practices that are available to make their farm system more sustainable and be part of the climate solution.
Producers already on board
MacKenzie says interest is already sparking for the database project.
"Everywhere I've been so far … producers come up to me and ask how can they get access to the database and when is it going to be ready."
One of the producers working with MacKenzie is Colby Hansen, who has a mixed farm 35 kilometres northeast of Westlock, Alta.
Hansen raises cattle but also farms grain and hay to feed them. He farms using regenerative agriculture techniques, meaning he is working with nature to maintain his farm.
"I'm integrating cover crops in my corn, so I put turnips … fava beans and clovers in with my corn to feed the soil microbes and the soil biology. And in turn, it also helps provide nutrients to the corn crop as well," he says.
He says he also uses rotational grazing to mimic how buffalo used the land in the past.
"It's all about kind of taking half, leaving half concept of not overgrazing and leaving some residual for the plants to recover."
Hansen says that the regenerative techniques he has used — such as intercropping, which is growing two or more crops in the same field in the same year — have helped the health of his fields.
MacKenzie's soil testing project is allowing Hansen to see the benefits. Preliminary results showed his regenerative style field stored 20 tonnes of carbon per acre versus four tonnes per acre on a conventional style field.
"I'm very happy because carbon is obviously the driver to a healthy soil. So the more carbon we can store in the soil, the healthier crops we can grow."
Hansen adds that research like this may help farmers realize that regenerative techniques can help environmentally without creating financial losses.
"With climate change and everything that's going on … farmers hold the key to the success of this. But we need to prove to farmers that they can make money doing it."
Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled "Our Changing Planet" to show and explain the effects of climate change. Keep up with the latest news on our Climate and Environment page.
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