The Rural Voice, 1987-05, Page 18SENATOR SPARROW ANNOUNCES NEW
NATIONAL SOIL CONSERVATION AGENCY
Senator Herbert Sparrow
Back in 1984, Senator Herbert
Sparrow and his Standing
Committee on Agriculture,
Fisheries, and Forestry published Soil
at Risk: Canada's Eroding Future, the
well-received study of soil degradation
in Canada. One of the recommenda-
tions was that a national council be
established to address soil and water
conservation issues.
Last month, Senator Sparrow
announced the formation of Soil Con-
servation Canada, an independent, non-
governmental body drawing its support
from both agricultural and conserva-
tion groups which will, it is hoped,
help to draw together the disparate ef-
forts and programs geared to soil and
water conservation in Canada.
"I suppose we're saying," said
the senator in a telephone interview,
"enough of this waste of research
money and waste of effort. It must be
co-ordinated."
"We want to advance the develop-
ment and implementation of conserva-
tion techniques. Basicially I'm talk-
ing about the encouragement of tech-
nology deliveries to the farm gate."
The organization will also play
"a bit of an advocacy role to protect
soils," he said.
"The most crucial aspect would
be to increase public awareness of the
devastating effects of soil degradation
all across Canada."
Agriculture Canada is to provide
$20,000 to help the council to estab-
lish operations, and other major fund-
ing will come from Ducks Unlimited,
the United Grain Growers, Wildlife
Habitat Canada, the Soil Conserva-
tion Society of America, and Prairie
Pools Inc. The Canadian Federation
of Agriculture and the Agricultural
Institute of Canada, as well as other
groups and individuals, will also
contribute.
Soil Conservation Canada's goals
include:
• increasing public awareness,
• advocating conservation studies in
schools,
• encouraging research,
• advancing the development and use
of conservation techniques,
• monitoring and fostering the co-
ordination of conservation efforts,
and
• providing a forum for discussion.
The directors of the new organ-
ization will hold their first official
meeting this month.OLG
TAP WILL ASSESS CONSERVATION WORK
Concem over the health of the
Great Lakes in recent years has
generated new awareness of the
problem of soil erosion, and various
levels of government have responded
to the challenges.
The Ontario Ministry of Agricul-
ture and Food has added a soil and
water management branch, Agriculture
Canada and various universities and
colleges are evaluating soil manage-
ment systems with greater intensity,
and the federal and provincial govern-
ments established the Soil and Water
Environmental Enhancement Program
(SWEEP), a five-year, $30 -million
agreement to improve soil and water
quality in southwestern Ontario.
Part of SWEEP is the Soil and
Water Technology Assessment Panel,
known as TAP. A 15 -member group
appointed for two or three-year terms,
it includes farmers, agrologists, gov-
ernment specialists, and farm machi-
nery engineers. Arthur Bennett of
Huron County, who was director of
extension for OMAF for several years
and associated with the Junior Farmer
Soil and Land Use Tours, is chairman.
Bruce Shillinglaw, also of Huron
County, is on the panel as well. Past
president of the Huron Soil and Crop
Improvement Association and past
chairman of the Huron Soil and Water
Conservation District, he notes that
the economic crunch has prompted a
number of farmers to look at conser-
vation measures more closely. Far-
mers, he says, are looking critically at
fragile land and realizing that it just
doesn't pay to keep it in production.
As Shillinglaw describes it, TAP's
work has three aspects. Through con-
tracting research assistance, panel mem-
bers will help to assess the social and
economic aspects of soil and water
conservation. They will also measure
the results of a study on two water-
shed areas, one where conservation
recommendations will be employed,
and another where farming practices
will be carried on as usual. And they
will be making recommendations for
research in areas where technology is
lacking or information is needed to
develop cost-effective systems.
In short, TAP will advise Agri-
culture Canada on the technology
and research that should be tested and
promoted under SWEEP.O
ESTIMATES OF THE IMPACT OF SOIL DEGRADATION ON ONTARIO
FARM GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP) —1984
GDP. $2,689,000,000 On-farm costs of soil degradation:
$140,000,000 - $193,000,000
Percentage reduction
in agricultural GDP
attributed to soil
degradation: 5 - 7%
Percentage of national degradation
costs: 20%
16 THE RURAL VOICE