The Rural Voice, 1978-11, Page 5Erosion control
View from the top of Sydney Smith's silo, giving an oNerall view
of his terraced land and contour corn planting.
Photo by Merle Gunby)
Farmers look for solutions
By Alice Gibb
Norman Alexander has an analogy he uses about the futility of
trying to maintain ditches and dams in southern Ontario when
our valuable topsoil is being eroded off the fields.
Mr. Alexander said building more drainage ditches and dams
when erosion exists is a little like changing your tire because
there are nails on the road.
In other words. government may be spending its money cm: the
wrong solution. Mr. Alexander said a dam like the proposed
Glengowan Dam project near St. Mary's can be destroyed in as
little as 20 years by the buildup of sediment which runs off
fields along the waterway.
Erosion has been a major concern of Mr. Alexander since he
retired trom his seed cleaning plant in Londesboro in 1974 and
was appointed ditch commissioner for Hullett township.
When Mr. Alexander saw sonic of the serious erosion
problems in his area. and in other parts of Huron County, he
tried to contact the government agency which dealt. with the
problem. This was when Mr. Alexander realized one of the major
drawbacks in tackling disappearing topsoil, gulley erosion, etc.
is the fact no one government agency is directly responsible for
erosion control.
Who's Responsible?
"I tried to find out who was responsible for soil erosion in the
_overnu,.:nt. The Foodland Development Branch of the Ministry
of Agriculture said they were only concerned with land use and
nit 'rosion. The Ministry of Natural Resources said they were
only interested in erosion as far as it affected fishlife. Nobody
would take responsibility." Mr. Alexander said.
In the 1940's soil erosion was a major concern in Ontario and
the gu,ei'intent created research and extension programs to
demonstrate and encourage the use of soil erosion control
measures. For example, the 1 -arm Planning Service of the
Ontario Agricultural College helped farmers plan their farm
layout so erosion was minimized.
Unfortunately, these programs have long since disappeared
and now, as Mr. Alexander pointed out, there is no single
provincial or federal government body responsible for all aspects
of soil conservation today.
In contrast, the United States Soil Conservation Authority.
organized in the 1930's, has instituted a number of programs to
combat erosion in the United States.
Mike Miller, assistant ag. rep. in the Clinton OMAF office,
said the American program offers positive financial incentive to
encourage farmers to practise strip cropping and to put their
poorer land into grass. Mr. Miller said farmers are paid rent by
the federal government for the land which they set aside for a
sod crop.
More Sodded
Mr. Miller said we would likely see more acreage sodded here
if we had a program of federal support as exists in the United
States. But the ag. rep. said erosion is now starting to be
re-emphasized by OMAF in winter meetings and during
education days. Mr. Miller said farmers and farm educators
were so busy sorting out the new crop production methods that
erosion problems have been ignored for some time. Now Mr.
Miler thinks this situation is changing.
Colin Reesor, associate ag. rep. in the Walkerton OMAF office
said economics of farmirigin recent years have more or less forced
farmers into growing one type of crop. Mr. Reesor said farmers
often become concerned about what intensive cropping is doing
to their land only after the damage has already been done.
Norman Alexander is particularly concerned about the lack of
information available on the hazards of high intensity cropping,
particularly with corn. Also, as farmers have increased the size
of their fields, they've eliminated the sod strips which once held
down the soil. Finally, the move towards cash cropping means
large acreages of land in Ontario are left without any vegetation
corer for most of the year.
Snow Helps
Pat Lynch, OMAF soils and crop specialist, said there is
concern about continuous cropping. but said he didn't feel it was
a major problem in Huron and Perth counties since shortly after
THE RURAL VOICE/NOVEMBER 1978 PG. 5