The Soil Conservation Council of Canada (SCCC) is applauding the introduction of Bill S-230, which, if passed, would see the Federal Agriculture Minister work with other relevant ministers, to put together a national soil health strategy.
The SCCC wants to see the bill passed, and for Ottawa to act on its recommendations, to prioritize soil health across the country.
The bill was introduced by Ontario Senator Rob Black and is at second reading in the Senate as of June 12. Susie Miller, the interim Executive Director of the SCCC, says the bill is the culmination of work done by Black and his colleagues several years ago.
"This legislation would commit government to undertaking the major activities that were identified or the major recommendations that were identified in that report. So it is an implementation of all of the good work that they previously did and it brings attention to the importance of soil at a national economic level that is not really evident." Miller said.
Even though farmers and ag producers understand the importance of soil health, Miller says many people don't realize how soil health is affected by other factors, such has urban expansion and weather changes.
"Any kind of land manager, whether they be individual farmers and ranchers or municipalities or utilities, they're facing sort of continued challenges due to weather that isn't as predictable as it used to be. So even if everyone is doing the right thing today, tomorrow there may have to be adaptations and approaches that, you know, haven't been considered at this point." she said.
She says the soil conservation strategy remains a work in progress, with the SCCC working with a number of partners, including farmers, farm groups, researchers, service providers, conservation associations and government.
"Our strategy is industry-led and it is focused on bringing everyone together. The Senate bill can only focus on government or is only focused on government of Canada actions, so the two really are in tandem and there's just so much significant commonality between the types of initiatives that we see happening. The process is different and who it's going to impact is different in terms of how it defines or for whom the actions are defined, but both will lead to sort of a consistent outcome. Government has a lot of policy instruments to use and we absolutely need them at the table and Bill S-230 is one mechanism to formalize that commitment."
She says it's all about creating something formal to result in the sustainability and protection of soil across Canada, as well as recognize that healthy soil is important to a producer's bottom line.
"And the sort of a concerted effort to pool resources at the government level and at the industry and other stakeholder level can only improve our productivity and provide farmers and ranchers with the tools that they need to make the most of the soils that they have." she said, adding this is something that the ag community has really supported, noting consultations with 80 or 90 stakeholders last year.
"We added more this year and no one, no matter where they came from, disagreed with the value of working together collaboratively to leverage the resources that are going into soil health from the individual farmer perspective, but also from the public perspective and private company perspective."
She says it will take time for the bill to work its way through the process to potentially be put into law. Between moving from the Senate to the House of Commons, then back to the Senate, Miller expects the whole thing would take "likely about a year."
If passed, Miller says Bill S-230 will be seen by the SCCC, agriculture groups and producers, as a net positive for the country.
"That's not to say that there aren't significant private and public resources already going into soil management; there definitely is. But this is an opportunity to leverage those resources in an effective way, a more effective way, and to prepare for, you know, sort of whatever the international markets and Mother Nature throws at us."
(With files from Craig Read, CJGX)
