"SOS." Many people remember the first national program to address the field of soil conservation, brought in under the realm of the federal government. In Saskatchewan, it was known as Save Our Soils, and formed a link between federal and provincial governments. It saw three years of effort placed in the hands of well meaning individuals and groups molded into specific programs to address the four main problems existing in the province, namely wind erosion, water erosion, saline soils and problem solonetzic soils.
The successes were measured in terms of more miles of tree shelterbelts being placed on farms than ever before, direct seeding being tried and adopted by a few, and some problem land in the saline and solonetzic areas being reclaimed and recropped. There was also the evidence of a beginning in crop diversification and improved rotations. Permanent cover projects saw the establishment of more forages in marginal land situations.
The advent of the "next" three year plan was the "Green Plan". Again, this was a joint program involving senior levels of government, with funds being allocated to participating partners in the form of agencies and individual producers.
Although there was not the quantities of direct funds to producers as in the SOS plan, there were certainly a good number of valuable projects completed. We saw more crop diversification, albeit the change in freight rates probably had as much to do with this as anything else. We did see the rather phenomenal growth continuing in the direct seeding area, with a corresponding large reduction in summerfallow acres in the province. There was more progress made in both wind and water erosion reduction as a result.
The conversion from high to low disturbance direct seeding was very much in evidence as machinery manufacturers hastened to meet the demand from the producers for a quality method. Direct seeding under low disturbance acres expanded dramatically.
Where are we going? Nobody knows for sure but several trends and directions seem evident. There continue to be great improvements made in direct seeding technology and machinery.
Precision farming has expanded from the USA and has continued to draw much interest in the farming community in this country.
Carbon sequestering in the soil grows as a viable concept among continuous croppers and more specifically among low disturbance direct seeders.
Variable rate fertilization is rapidly becoming a reality with the advance of precision farming, with the technology being adapted to spraying and harvesting operations. Field mapping for producers is now an exciting thing that is attainable. Keep watching these trends; they will change your attitudes toward farming a lot more in the future.