Are the good times for agriculture bad times for soils?

The development of agriculture in Canada was primarily driven by political will and the resultant programs and policies to address this will. The rapid settlement of the western United States in the late 1870s and early 1880s was viewed by the Sir John A Macdonald government as a potential threat to Canada's North West Territories. The Macdonald government developed policies to promote settlement in western Canada and lauded the farming potential of the region. Farmers began to populate the West, bringing with them implements for breaking land that were being used for grain production in eastern Canada; most important among these was the disc and the plough.

During this early settlement period the native soils of the prairies provided excellent fertility through the intensive tillage required to prepare land for seeding. Grain produced in the region was of high quality and produced superb flour and bread products. It wasn't long before western Canada became known as "the breadbasket of the world". The world became even hungrier for our grain during the Great War years 1914-1918 and the subsequent years of European reconstruction. Farmers generally experienced good times and profitability.

However, during this agricultural growth period there was an indication that an environmental problem was at hand. In 1923, a scientist at the Dominion of Canada Research Station, Indian Head - Dr. Shutt - identified the problem in his Report on Soil Fertility, Dominion of Canada Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 21. In this report Shutt stated, "there is a marked destruction of the organic matter and dissipation of the nitrogen where the crop/fallow system is followed, and this eventually will injuriously affect the soil both chemically and physically". He also reported, "there is a natural destruction or dissipation of the organic matter in the soils from the oxidation and chemical reactions following the tilling, the cultivation of the soil, which results in the loss, more or less, of this organic matter".

Shutt's report suggests that our science was sound in terms of understanding agriculture practices and their affect on the environment. However, the political will at the time was to maximize production and feed a growing world population. Thus, during this period of good times for agriculture, the warning of pending soil degradation was largely ignored. It wasn't until the Great Depression and the terrible droughts of the 1930s that any national policy was aimed at soil conservation. The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) was established in 1935 to "...secure the rehabilitation of the drought and soil drifting areas in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and to develop and promote within those areas, systems of farm practice, tree culture, water supply, land utilization and land settlement that will afford greater economic security...".

However, good times for farmers soon returned when the droughts ended and the world went to war in the 1940s. Again the focus was placed on increasing food production to replace that which was lost during the war years in Europe. This emphasis on maximizing production continued through the next three decades and with the innovations of fertilizers, herbicides and new crop varieties, agriculture productivity was testing the limits of our soil resources. This era could be considered as "good times". Then came the 1980s.

This period from the early 1980s through to the new millennium was probably the worst of times for grain farmers in western Canada. Interestingly, it was the time when the greatest advancements were made in terms of soil conservation and soil improvement. Most of the farming organizations in Canada that focus on soil (and the other associated resources, water, air and wildlife) were established in the mid to late 1980s. Also, most of the innovations in no-till seeding took place in western Canada during this time. Our agricultural scientists developed knowledge in areas such as crop rotations, nutrient management, and carbon sequestration that is not matched in any other region of the world. As a result, our soil, water, air and wildlife resources in western Canada are now in the best shape since the land was broken.

So now we start another cycle of good times for grain production. Prices are at all-time highs, world stocks are low, and the movement into bio-fuels suggests more and more crop production will be dedicated to that industry. The government has a policy on developing the bio-fuel industry. They haven't, however, indicated any policies towards agriculture resource protection. This raises several questions. Will the focus switch back to maximum production? Will marginal land be taken out of perennial forage programs and put into annual crops? Will government policies place less emphasis on environmental programs? Will these good times be hard on our soils?

This blog entry was authored by Doug McKell, Executive Director for the Soil Conservation Council of Canada. To read additional Illative Blog entries or to leave comments on this entry, please visit www.illativeblog.ca. The Illative Blog is an initiative by the Knowledge Impact in Society (KIS) Project based out of the University of Saskatchewan. Email correspondence can be sent to kis.project@usask.ca