QUESTION & ANSWER
MFGA: Tell us more about the relationship between soil and carbon and is this relationship the same on every farm?
KIM: Soil takes carbon from the air, making it the second-largest carbon store, or “sink”, after the oceans. Soil carbon sequestration is an important mitigation measure to combat climate change. Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) stored, or sequestered, has the potential to create another income stream for producers in the form of carbon credits or offsets.
Every farm is different. Measuring SOC on a farm-by-farm basis means producers have the flexibility to use the regenerative practices that suit them best. By understanding specific soil conditions, knowing where the carbon is and where it could be improved helps producers to improve their soil in a targeted way. This information is invaluable to producers and the long-term viability of their operations.
MFGA: What should producers know about soil and nutrient mapping?
KIM: A soil map is a comprehensive decision-making tool that helps producers to optimize their nutrient management across the farm and validate outcomes from their specific management practices.
MFGA: How does it work?
KIM: Our soil mapping at Food Water Wellness Foundation combines remotely sensed soil data mapped at a 5m resolution with soil samples analyzed for total nutrients and available nutrients as well as other key soil characteristics that impact nutrient use and availability. This enables producers to visualize nutrient availability dynamics in relationship to specific land management and soil conditions on their farm or ranch.
The soil map is interactive and multi layered. It provides an opportunity to see the effect reducing inputs, varying the type and application rates of synthetic nutrients, applying manure, or incorporating grazing into a nutrient strategy is likely to have. The map illustrates soil conditions from 0-15cm, 15-30cm, 30-60cm and 60-100cm giving an understanding of soil dynamics at each depth.
MFGA: How is this different from standard soil tests?
KIM: The FWWF map is web-based and is generated by combining soil samples with many layers of data gathered from multiple sources. When combined with site specific soil data as well as specific land management data it provides a clear understanding of management practice impacts on soil health, microbiological activity, and soil organic carbon (SOC) accrual, putting the work into context for a specific farm. It is a great tool not only for decision-making but also for communicating with neighbours and communities. SOC is important on so many levels. Producers will synthesize impacts of their management practices and be able to clarify what their next steps should be to profitably harvest sunlight via photosynthesis and reduce costs and input related emissions. All while increasing SOC stocks.
MFGA: Tell us more about the process.
KIM: To generate the sampling plan we use a considerable amount of remotely sensed data such as climate data like temperature maps, precipitation maps, snow cover maps, and potential evapotranspiration, Relief and topography-related maps, vegetation indices e.g. FAPAR (mean, median), NDVI, EVI, biomass, Leaf Area Index, land cover maps, and details on parent material like bedrock type and age, bedrock mineralogy (acid, basic), and surface material type, texture, age, mineralogy, and thickness. We do this best represent the landscape before we take any samples at your place.
Using the sampling plan we take the amount of samples required to represent the diversity of your farm or ranch.
This optimized sampling allows us to run comprehensive soil analysis to provide the full spectrum of soil nutrients and soil health data. We will give you the soil analysis that you are used to and add in other methods, such as the Haney test, to connect how soil health and soil biology is making nutrients available to plants.
MFGA: Then what…. How does all that data relate to practical management practices?
KIM: We work with leaders such as agronomist Daryl Chubb and soil microbiologist Dr Kris Nichols to not only analyze soil test results but to make the correlations between management practices and soil test results. The data is all tracked and combined into this powerful tool.
MFGA: You talk a lot about soil carbon, how we should increase and store it in the soil. Why is that?
KIM: As the main component of soil organic matter carbon is the primary driver of soil fertility and productivity. Increasing soil organic matter increases soil aggregates and gas exchange, gives habitat and energy to soil micro-organisms to work together to make nutrients more available. Without SOC crops are vulnerable to diseases and stresses.
Increasing SOC improves soil’s capacity to retain water for crops, making farms and ranches more resilient against extreme weather events like drought and floods. Knowing where the carbon stocks are aids in making water management decisions.
