Features Agronomy Soil
Raising awareness of soils in Alberta

Sept. 15, 2015 - Alberta Agriculture and Forestry's (AF's) webpage has a tool called the Soil Information Viewer that can help with an understanding of the soils in the province.

"The viewer accesses soil information stored in database tables called the Agricultural Regions of Alberta Soil Inventory Database (AGRASID)," says David Speiss, geographical information systems engineer, AF, Edmonton. "The information in the database looks at the ability of Alberta soils to grow grains crops, allows comparisons between different land in different areas, gives information on soil properties, helps with making environmental farm plans, and a whole lot more."

The Alberta Soil Information Viewer runs from an Internet welcome page. From there, the viewer is accessed by pressing the graphic on the left of the page or by pressing On-line Soil Viewer above the graphic.

"Many outside the agriculture and natural resources industry don't realize the importance that healthy soil plays in such areas as supporting life on land, filtering land, water and air of toxins, pathogens, and greenhouse gases, and, securing the world's food supply," says Speiss. "It's hoped that tools like the Soil Information Viewer can help raise awareness about this vital resource."

September 15, 2015  By Top Crop Manager