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Ontario releases soil health and conservation strategy

Ontario has a new strategy to help ensure the province’s agricultural soils remain healthy and productive for future generations.

“New Horizons: Ontario’s Agricultural Soil Health and Conservation Strategy” was developed in collaboration with the Agricultural Soil Health and Conservation Working Group, experts from provincial farm organizations, agri-food businesses, conservation organizations, the research community and other levels of government.

Healthy soil delivers numerous benefits including improved crop growth, yield and quality, water and nutrient retention, resilience, biodiversity, and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Productive soils are the foundation of Ontario’s agri-food industry – an economic powerhouse that in 2016 accounted for 5.9 per cent of the province’s Gross Domestic Product, employed over 800,000 people and yielded more than $13 billion in farm cash receipts for Ontario farmers.

The soil strategy’s implementation and the long term monitoring of its actions will be guided by soil health partners and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

The strategy document can be found here. 

April 26, 2018  By OSCIA