Global
Canada’s soils are in crisis
By Sarah Rotz, Rod MacRae, and Ralph C. Martin November 7, 2018
As the climate changes, we must radically improve soil health in Canada.
Maintaining soil health is crucial to both sustainable food and climate systems, say researchers Sarah Rotz, Rod MacRae, and Ralph C. Martin. Jahoo Clouseau photograph courtesy of Pexels
Healthy soil is the heart of our food system and, by every conceivable measure, we are making our soil sick. In Ontario, soil organic matter—a key determinant of soil health—is now decreasing on 82 per cent of farmland. Since 1948, the soil organic matter in Essex County, in the province’s far south, has declined by more than half on the vast majority of farms. Meanwhile, 54 per cent of farmland across Ontario now has high levels of erosion risk.
Related Stories
Explore, analyze, understand
Inside Ottawa Directory – 2019 Edition
The handy reference guide includes: riding profiles, MPs by province, MP contact details, both Hill and constituency and more.
Get the book
The handy reference guide includes: riding profiles, MPs by province, MP contact details, both Hill and constituency and more.
Get the book
Related Policy Briefings
Agriculture Policy Briefing
Short and informative analyses on policy challenges that bring background and recommendations to policymakers, journalists and the general public.
Read policy briefing
Short and informative analyses on policy challenges that bring background and recommendations to policymakers, journalists and the general public.
Read policy briefing
Aerospace Policy Briefing
Short and informative analyses on policy challenges that bring background and recommendations to policymakers, journalists and the general public.
Read policy briefing
Short and informative analyses on policy challenges that bring background and recommendations to policymakers, journalists and the general public.
Read policy briefing
Natural Resources
Short and informative analyses on policy challenges that bring background and recommendations to policymakers, journalists and the general public.
Read policy briefing
Short and informative analyses on policy challenges that bring background and recommendations to policymakers, journalists and the general public.
Read policy briefing
Politics This Morning
Your email has been added. An email has been sent to your address, please click the link inside of it to confirm your subscription.
Julie Payette resigns as governor general after investigation into workplace harassment at Rideau Hall, Trudeau says her replacement will be named in ‘due course’
Apologizing for 'tensions' that became public over the last months, Julie Payette said that 'we all experience things differently, but we should always strive to do better, and be attentive to one another’s perceptions.'Correctional Service ‘abdicating’ responsibility in Quebec woman’s murder, say critics of response to internal report
The killing of Marylène Lévesque by a parolee in January 2020 was a ‘catastrophic failure, which is tantamount to a wrongful death,’ says prison watchdog Ivan Zinger.Former innovation minister Bains was most-lobbied minister in 2020
Mr. Bains, who was lobbied 214 times in 2020, took the top spot from the 2019 leader, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau. Parties ramping up candidate nominations across Canada as election threat looms
Quebec is expected to once again be a key electoral battleground, spurred on by the Bloc Québécois’ resurgence in 2019, with multiple candidates already nominated in three target ridings. Conservative caucus votes to expel Sloan, former contender for party leadership
He faced potential expulsion last year during the leadership race over comments he made that appeared to question whether chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, who is of Asian descent, was a pawn of China.Could Parliament Hill withstand a Capitol Building-style insurrection?
'I hope that intelligence and security officials in Canada learned after what they saw in the U.S. and can make sure something like that does not happen here,' says Ottawa-turned-Washington correspondent Richard Madan.‘Democracy has prevailed,’ Biden tells nation as Trump leaves office
‘The rise of political extremism, white supremacy, and domestic terrorism [is one] that we must confront and will defeat,’ said U.S. President Joe Biden in his first address.Post controversy, Green Party executive director position remains unfilled
The Green Party's former executive director resigned in October, but a public search for a permanent replacement has yet to begin.Updated mandate letters allow Grits to showcase pandemic fight without being attacked for abandoning promises, say politicos
The new mandate letters add new priorities to the instructions given to cabinet ministers in the 2019 mandate letters. Trending Stories
