How cold can it be standing in the middle of a field watching
a crew take soil samples? The answer: Pretty darned cold! But it
sure was interesting! In late October, I had the opportunity to
accompany Colette and Rick Stushnoff of the Sask. Soil Survey to
a field near Gorlitz when they took soil samples for the Sask.
Soil Enhancement Research Project. The objective of the project
is to determine the level of Carbon in the soil after 3 years of
direct seeding.
SSCA staff involvement in the project began in the summer of
1996 when we began to search for cooperators in the project. Our
mission was to find cooperators willing to be invoved in several
layers of a study. Cooperators in the Level 1 study have fields
that were direct seeded for the first time in 1996 or will be in
1997. Once 100 of these fields were identified around the
province, crews from Sask. Soil Survey and Ag. Canada went out to
take six soil cores in each field. These cores will be dried in
the lab and then stored until 1999. At that time, these samples,
together with six more soil cores taken from those same fields,
will be analyzed for their C content . It's expected that the C
content of the soil cores removed in 1999 will be higher than
those removed in 1996 or early 1997.
Level 2 cooperators have a little more commitment to the
Project than do the Level 1 folks. The fields marked for Level 2
will provide a direct comparison between the amount of C stored
in a direct seeded system versus that in a conventionl till
system. Once again, the fields involved must have been direct
seeded for the first time in 1996 or 1997. The cooperators will
cultivate 2 acre sites in their fields. The amount of tillage
should reflect the norm in the area (one pass in the fall and
then seed in the spring or two passes in the fall and one in the
spring prior to seeding). Soil cores will be taken in the areas
that have been tilled and in the standing stubble. Again, these
cores will go back to the lab to dry and then be sealed until
1999. Unlike the Level 1 sites, however, these Level 2 sites will
be analyzed for more than what the soil tells us. Prior to
harvest in each of 97, 98 & 99, we staff will collect biomass
samples from various locations within the fields on both the
direct seeded area and the areas that had been worked. These
biomass samples will then be carefully bagged, tagged and sent to
Brian McConkey at the Semiarid Prairie Agriculture Research
Centre in Swift Current. Brian and his staff will measure biomass
C & N, thresh samples and do grain quality analysis (oil
content and protein).
In each region, we have one Level 3 cooperator. This farmer
has been direct seeding atleast one field for 6 years or more.
Just across the fence from that field is a field that has been
conventionally seeded for that time. The two fields will be
sample once and their purpose in the project is to confirm the
anticipated relationship between the adoption of a direct seeding
system and increasing soil carbon levels.
While the results from the study won't be available for a few
years, I'm sure they will prove most interesting.
The Soil Enhancement Research project is a joint venture between SSCA, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and GEMCO (Greenhouse Emissions Management Consortium) managed by TransAlta Utilites.