Greenbelt Foundation Soil Health Program

Improve your soils, farm business and community! The Greenbelt Foundation and soil scientists at the Soil Health Institute are working together with Ontario agricultural partners to develop an interpretable, scalable, locally relevant method for evaluating and monitoring soil health.

Participants will receive soil health data on measurements that reflect their overall soil function for carbon cycling and storage, water cycling and storage, nutrient cycling and more, along with locally relevant soil health interpretations and recommendations to understand the results and set achievable soil health goals. This information will provide valuable insights into the current state of your soil and help you identify areas for improvement.

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OSCIA Tools and Information for Soil Testing

Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA), founded in 1939, is a grassroots, not-for-profit farm organization. The Association is represented by more than 50 local county and district branches within 11 regions of the province, and our dedicated membership has significant representation in all commodity groups. OSCIA has a wealth of soil health related programs and resources, including the ONFARM program.

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Ducks Unlimited Soil Health Partnership Program

Ducks Unlimited is partnering with Ontario farmers who are interested in completing soil testing on their agricultural lands – and interested in wetland conservation. They provide up to $1,000 in funding for participants’ first year of soil health testing, including the cost of a soil probe. They work with farmers who want to ensure they are applying the 4R’s: the right type and amount of nutrient/fertilizer, in the right place, at the right rate, and at the right time.

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OMAFA Soil Health & Testing Resources

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA) provides a suite of free agricultural and environmental decision support tools related to crop management, nutrient management, and fertility, available through AgriSuite.

 

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Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority

LSCA offers a funding support program for soil testing and nutrient management planning. Farmers in the Lake Simcoe region can benefit from soil testing support for 50% of the costs of soil testing (up to $500), 100% cost of seed for cover crops up to $2,000, and 50% of costs up to $5,000 for controlling erosion through the installation of a WASCoB, grassed waterway, terrace, drop structure, or water and sediment control basin.

 

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University of Guelph: Soils at Guelph

OMAFA released the Soil Health Assessment and Plan (SHAP) tool for use. SHAP is a mobile- or web-app based tool, created to assess field practices and is paired with lab analysis of soil health indicators. The Soils At Guelph SHAP Ground-Truthing Project will help to populate the SHAP database with more agricultural soils from across Ontario. This project can cover the cost of one sample analysis per field/orchard/vineyard for Ontario Farms.

 

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