Soil is Essential for Healthy Food Production

Soil is essential for healthy food production. Rich soils create high production crop growing areas and enable food security.

Soil is a continuation of Natural Resources.

Soil for Growing Healthy Foods

Noteworthy is that soil is an importahttp://www.fao.org/soils-portal/en/nt component of viable crop production and the nutritional content of foods.

First, soil is formed by the weathering or disintegration of parent rocks by physical, chemical, and biological agents.

Second, the ingredients for basic soil formation include mineral particles, and the decomposition of organic materials by living organisms such as lichens, insects, and microorganisms. And soil is formed over a long period of time.

In review, over a long period of time soil is made up of mineral particles, organic materials, air, water and living organisms.

However, soil represents only a thin layer of material covering the earth’s surface. Nevertheless, this thin later represents a substantial amount of material.

Third, the profiles in soil layers are influenced by the slow and continuous interaction of several factors:

Parent material
Climate
Vegetation
Organisms
Time, and perhaps topography or the shape and features of land surfaces.

In summary, the interaction of these soil factors occurs through soil processes. And these are categorized by four groups: additions, losses, transformations, and translocations.

Soil Texture

Soil textures are determined in part by the relative proportions of sand, silt, and clay that make up the soil.

Various soil textures along with organic soils are found in many agricultural areas.

In the previous section, the various shades outlined in the ‘Soil Textures by Ecodistrict’ diagram are based on respective soil textures. Eco districts are based on surface geology topology – or soil textures.

Specific crops prefer specific soil textures.

Soil Organic Matter

SOM or Soil Organic Matter is the organic matter component of soil, consisting of plant and animal detritus or waste at various stages of decomposition, compost, green manure, plus microbes and substances that soil microbes synthesize.

Benefits of Soil Organic Matter:

Serves as a reservoir of nutrients and water in the soil
Aids in reducing compaction and surface crusting
Increases water infiltration into the soil
Binds soil particles into aggregates
Improves the water holding capacity of soil.

A measurable component of SOM is soil organic carbon (SOC) – the carbon component of soil.

Humus is the stable fraction of the soil organic matter.

Glomalin is a compound excreted by mycorrhizal fungi that adds carbon to the soil in vast quantities and improves soil structure.

Soil Carbon

In the carbon cycle soil plays a major role. Soil stores approximately 3 times as much carbon as the atmosphere.

As plant materials decompose, a portion of the carbon remains in soils, and a portion is returned to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

Soil inorganic carbon (SOC) consists of mineral forms of carbon, either from weathering of parent material, or from reaction of soil minerals with atmospheric CO₂.

SOC is found in nature through plants and living things.

Approximately 58% of the mass of soil organic matter (SOM) exists as soil organic carbon (SOC).

Carbon Sequestration in Soil / Soil Carbon Sequestration

Over past millennia, an annually balanced carbon exchange occurred among the major carbon storage areas or reservoirs.

However, in recent decades till-based and industrial agricultural practices released carbon from soil reservoirs back to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. More carbon is released from warmer soils than cooler soils.

Soil carbon sequestration is an example of a Regenerative agricultural practice. Regenerative agriculture principles include reduce tillage, add cover crops, diversify cash crops, reduce inputs, integrate livestock…

And soil carbon sequestration and carbon offsets serve as a climate mitigation tool. However, noting additionality and permanence considerations, further research is needed to better understand its full potential.

Summary Benefits of Soil Carbon:

A. Improves soil health
B. Increases / improves water availability during drought
C. Improves nutrient and soil retention during rainfall
D. Enhances / Improves field accessibility
E. Helps to remove at least a portion of the carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere from human activities
F. Provides the potential to generate revenue for farmers using carbon markets.

Land Classes

Prime agricultural land is important for achieving high yields and high production crop growing areas.

Soil and farmland are important for growing healthy foods. The seven land classes presented here are based on definitions, and prime agricultural land typically refers to the top 3 classes (one may optionally include organic soils).

Prime agricultural lands or Class 1, 2 and 3 lands are predominantly found towards the southwest and specific central areas. More varied land classes are found towards the east.

Except for the Great Clay Belt in northern Ontario (see Clay Belt below) the more northern areas (illustrated as ‘Not Classified’) are not suitable for agriculture as the land is part of the Canadian Shield and consists of many forests, rock outcrops, watersheds, and water reservoirs.

Lower land classes are also found throughout much of the Niagara Escarpment – a natural geological formation running from New York state westward through Ontario, then crossing the Bruce Peninsula and ultimately extending into Wisconsin. The Niagara Escarpment consists of many elevated rock outcrops, forested areas, and natural areas making it ideal for natural habitats and challenging rugged hiking trails.

The Greenbelt

This is the Greenbelt in Ontario – a large area of protected land with many natural features including escarpment outcrops, watersheds, forests, various natural areas, a large moraine – and areas for crop production!

The Greenbelt includes the Niagara Escarpment which runs from the Niagara area in the south up to the Bruce Peninsula in the north. It also includes the Oak Ridges Moraine which runs from the Escarpment in the west to near Peterborough in the east.

The two specialty crop areas in the Greenbelt are the Holland Marsh north of Toronto (an area of dark organic soils ideal for growing various vegetables), and a portion of the Niagara peninsula (ideal for fruit production).

Please refer to the Greenbelt – Healthy Soils, and the publication by the Greenbelt and Equiterre (pdf): The Power of Soil – An Agenda for Change to Benefit Farmers and Climate Resilience.

Great Clay Belt

The Great Clay Belt is part of two northern eco regions, extending across parts of northern Ontario and Quebec. The draining of a much earlier glacial lake left deposits and the remaining sediments formed these flatlands. The greyish areas represent soils with higher percentages of clay.

Noteworthy, The Great Clay Belt in the north is surrounded by the Canadian Shield. The Canadian Shield is characterized by hills, tundra, rocks, various spruce and other coniferous trees, plus lakes, rivers and mining areas.

The clay areas in southern Ontario are also identified by greyish colours. The southern clay areas were also formed in a similar manner.

Renewed Interest in the Great Clay Belt

The Great Clay Belt in the north has a very short growing season with unpredictable rainfall. Along with pasture and livestock operations, wheat is one of the short-season crops grown there.

With climate change and increasing temperatures the growing season is lengthening – perhaps as much a week earlier in the spring and a week later in the fall compared to earlier decades.

Hence, there is a renewed interest in understanding the potential for producing more crops and livestock on these northern fertile soils.

In addition to simulating yields for the major crops in southern Ontario, Crop-modelling tools can simulate pasture, other crops and forage-based livestock production.

Urban & Agricultural Land-use Areas

The counties, regions, and districts are illustrated by the map boundaries.

A notable portion of prime agricultural land has been converted to urban use rather than agriculture. Specific lands have been protected (refer to the Greenbelt in the following section).

Crop production is reported by county, region, and district. All the high crop production areas are in the agricultural areas rather than areas that are urban or forests.

The green coloured area includes both agricultural, forest and urban areas. There are also many cities, towns, villages, and hamlets scattered in the green-shaded agricultural areas.

The beige colour represents areas with increasing urbanization and decreasing agriculture.

The reddish shaded areas are often referred to as the inner Greater Golden Horseshoe and portions are highly urbanized with limited agriculture.

Importance of Preserving Prime Agricultural Land

The historical development of urban areas on prime agricultural lands illustrates the importance of preserving all prime agricultural land for food production.

Last Modified: May 17, 2024

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