This document discusses the importance of soil as a natural resource and provides an overview of soil formation and types on the Blood Reserve in Alberta, Canada. It details how cultivation and the wheat-fallow cropping system led to serious soil degradation through wind erosion. Conservation efforts including strip farming, trash cover farming, and the development of no-till and direct seeding helped improve soil quality over time. The document recommends sustainable cropping practices and careful consideration of future land developments to protect soil resources for generations to come.

1. SOIL – Your Very Important
Natural Resource
Ross H. McKenzie
McKenzie Ag Consulting
KEPA Conference
Taking Care of the Land
Standoff, AB
Nov 20, 2014

2. Outline:
• Introduction to Soil
• Soils – How soils have formed and developed
• Discuss important soil and land conservation
issues
• Provide my thoughts and comments

3. How many soil
micro-organisms
are in a handful
of fertile soil?
Soil is alive
and teeming
with life!
More than
1,000,000,000

4. Soils have developed as a result of various
soil forming factors :
1. Parent Geologic Material:
2. Climate:
3. Vegetation:
4. Topography:
5. Drainage:

5. Northern Great Plains – 10,000 years ago!
After that last glacial period – the Prairie landscape
was transformed leaving behind varying types of
parent material and topography.

6. Glacial
Ice Sheet
Hummocky
Moraine
Ground
Moraine
Outwash
Fluvial
Lacustrine
(Loam-CL)
Lacustrine
(Clay)
Melt Water
Fluvial
LS-SL
Types of Soil Parent Material

7. Types of Soil Parent Material
1. Glacial Till Deposits
2. Outwash (Gravel and sand deposits)
3. Fluvial (stream deposited; moving water).
4. Lacustrine (Glacial lakes; fine sediments)
5. Fluvial-Lacustrine (slow moving water)
6. Aeolian (Loess) (Wind deposited)

8. Dark Gray & Gray
Luvisolic Soils in North
Central & Northern AB
Brown Soils in
SE Alberta
Black Soils in
Central Alberta
Dark Brown
Soils in Southern
Central Alberta
Major Zonal Soil or Agro-Ecological Areas of Alberta

9. Black Soils
Dark Brown Soils
Major Soil Zones of Alberta

10. Major Agro-ecological Areas
on the Blood Reserve
• F1 - Dark Brown soil,
slopes <5%, medium to
fine texture with 2A
climate class
• J1- Black soil, slopes
<5%, medium to fine
soil texture with 2AH
climatic class
• J3- Black soil, slopes 5 to
15%,medium to fine soil
texture with 4H to 5H
climatic class

11. My Comment #1.
• Soils on the Blood Reserve have formed and
developed over the past 10,000 years
–Dark Brown soils – in the Northern portion
of the reserve
–Thin Black soils – in the Central & Southern
portion of the reserve

12. Soil Survey in Alberta
• Initiated in the early 1920’s
with the Report #1 published in
1925 of the Ft MacLeod Sheet by
Wyatt and Newton
• The last report, #56 was
published in 1996 of the
Gleichen Sheet by Walker and
Pettapiece

13. AGRASID
Agricultural Region of Alberta Soil Inventory
DatabaseAGRICULTURE,FOODAND
RURALDEVELOPMENT
ConservationandDevelopmentBranch
Alberta Land Resource Unit

14. http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/asic

15. Example of Soil Survey Info

17. Comment #2
• Forward thinking soil scientists ensured that
soil survey’s were conducted across Alberta
including the Blood Reserve.
• Soil classification information is readily
available via the internet using AGRASID!

18. Agricultural Land Suitability Rating
-Spring seeded small grains
Classification Limitations to Cropping
1 None to slight
2 Slight
3 Moderate
4 Severe
5 Very severe
6 Extremely severe
7 Not suitable

19. Question:
How much Class 1 Agricultural
land is:
-On the Blood Reserve?
-In Alberta?
Class 1 – No to slight soil or climatic
limitations for agriculture

20. Comment #3:
• NONE - on the Blood Reserve!!
• NONE - in Alberta!!
• Alberta does not have any “Class 1 Land”
for annual crop production!

22. Class 2: 478,000 ha

23. Comment #4
• Much of the land on the Blood Reserve is
Class 2 and 3 which is suitable for annual
crop production!
• Limitations:
–Limited precipitation – more frequently in
the northern part of the reserve.
–Shorter growing season – more frequently
a concern in the southwestern part of the
reserve.

24. First Nations People
• Lived in harmony with the land for +10,000 years.
• Fur traders began venturing into the western
prairies in the late 1700’s
• By the 1870’s the native way of life was changing
dramatically – the land and the landscape was
undergoing major changes!

25. Land Development
1880 to 1900
Cattle ranching &
grazing dominated the
landscape
1900 to 1920
Dramatic Shift – to land breaking
& cultivated agriculture
dominated the landscape

26. Wheat-Summerfallow Rotation
Land was seeded to
spring wheat and
fallowed every other
year.
The land was left bare
and cultivated to kill
weeds and store
moisture!

27. Cropping System
Wheat - Fallow
• Advantages
–Land was left in fallow every second year
–Store moisture for the next crop year
–Used for weed control
• Disadvantages
–No protective soil cover
–Land prone to soil erosion
–Decreased organic matter
–Increased salinity

28. Soil cultivation + summerfallow
led to severe wind erosion by
the dry 1930’s

29. Wind Erosion - Impacts
• Wind erosion physically removed the most fertile part of
the soil - the lighter, less dense soil:
– organic matter
– clays
– silts which lowered the soil productivity
• Wind erosion:
– Reduced soil productivity
– Reduced crop yields
– Reduced economic returns.

30. Wind erosion:
–Major topsoil losses in the 1930’s, 60’s and to
a lesser extent in 80’s

31. Effects of Cropping and
Cultivation on Soil Quality
• Summerfallowed land was tilled 3 to 4 times -
–Combination of cultivation, oxygen and
moisture stimulated soil microbial activity
• Result: Soil Organic Matter decomposition by
microbes occurred-
–Organic Matter levels declined by about
40% in first 40 years of cultivation.

32. Effect of Wheat Fallow on Crop Production

35. Comment #5:
Wheat-Fallow cropping system and cultivation
resulted in: Serious Soil Degradation on the
Blood Reserve and millions of acres across the
Northern Great Plains Region!

36. Dryland Agriculture
• Wheat-Fallow system was not sustainable
–Million acres of land were seriously eroded
• For farming to be sustainable - New ways of
farming had to be developed
–Researchers and innovative farmers took on the
challenge!

37. Soil Management
A. E. Palmer (1888-1984) “Trash Cover Palmer”
• 1921–1953 at Lethbridge Experimental Station
• Made great efforts to address the soil drifting crisis in
the 1930’s
• Collaborate with innovative farmers, such as Charles
Noble, to develop new practices such as strip farming
and sub-tillage
• Undertook technology transfer to farmers – that was
against Ottawa’s directives
• Strong advocate for conservation tillage

38. Soil Conservation
Charles Noble (1873-1957) - Farmer
• Concerned with dryland farming problems.
• Developed the Noble Blade, a cultivator that cut off
roots below ground, leaving the soil-holding "trash"
intact on the surface.
• He tested and began producing the cultivators in 1936
– by 1940 a manufacturing shop was set up in
Nobleford.

39. Comment #6
Forward thinking scientists and
farmers led the way to strip
farming and “trash cover” farming
to conserve the soil in the 1940’s
and 1950’s !

40. Effects of cropping practices in
the past 100 yrs on the prairies.

41. Rotation A-B-C AAFC Lethbridge
• nnn
Long-term dry land crop rotation established in 1911
WF -CW-WWF rotation – 103 years old!

43. (Rotation A-B-C, Lethbridge - Janzen et al. 1986)

44. Lessons:
• Soil quality declined as a result of cultivation,
summerfallow and no fertilizer additions
• Lessons:
–Continuous cropping is best - minimize
summerfallow
–Soil nutrients must be replaced for farming
to be sustainable in the long-term
•Maintain good soil fertility with adequate
fertilization

45. Comment #7 - Long-term
studies are invaluable!
• Long term studies have shown that annual
cropping is best for the soil – summerfallow should
not be part of a crop rotation!
• Nutrients removed by crops must be replaced –
–When fertilizers are used – soil quality improves!

46. Advanced Soil Conservation Efforts
• Since the 1930’s agricultural scientists and
leading farmers have strived to develop and
adopt conservation tillage !
• Dr. Wayne Lindwall – led no-till cropping
research in the 1970’s into 1990’s at
Lethbridge

48. Direct Seeding Seedbed
Thatch Layer Stubble

49. Direct seeding is now common
- Land is only tilled at seeding
Result:
- Soil quality is improving
- Crop yields are higher

50. Zero till – Direct Seeding
• Widespread adoption began in the 1990’s as
equipment manufacturers developed and
improved seeding equipment.
–Seeding equipment
–Harvest – straw management
–Weed control
• Today – most of the dryland fields are direct
seeded on the Blood Reserve

51. Benefits of Conservation Tillage
• Soil organic matter levels have improved
• Soil structure has improved
• Increased soil fertility
• Residue cover has greatly reduced soil erosion
• More soil water is conserved for crop growth
• Summerfallow has been mostly eliminated
• Greater crop diversification
–Reduced production risk
–Increased farm income
–Improved soil health

52. Comment #8
Farmers have excelled at adoption of direct-
seeding technology which has led to improved
soil quality and crop productivity!

53. Blood Reserve
and lands
across Alberta
have significant
oil and gas
reserves!

54. Well sites – on north end of Reserve
Note – land fragmentation

55. Abandoned Wells
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
160,000
#
1905 1915 1925 1935 1945 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005
1905
1915
1925
1935
1945
1955
1965
1975
1985
1995
2005
Area scale of actual to shown
dot features; 113:1
Area scale of actual to shown
linear features; 26:1
Source: Dr. B. Stelfox, 2005

56. Pipelines can affect soils and crop
production well into the future

57. Soil cannot be fully reclaimed to be as
productive as it was prior to disturbance.

58. Comment #9:
Should well sites and pipelines have greater
restrictions on the Blood Reserve on amount
of land that is disturbed?
Should drilling sites and pipelines have higher
land reclamation standards!
– presently companies reclaim back to 80%
of production potential!

59. Electrical transmission lines, windmills
and other developments permanently
occupy land and cause challenges!

60. Comment #10:
In the Future - consider have limitations on
transmission lines, windmill sites and other
industrial developments to preserve land
and protect very sensitive lands from
fragmentation and degradation?

61. Soil Salinity
-Soils that are affected by soluble salts
-Some saline areas occur naturally
-Expanding areas are caused by agricultural
practices

62. Saline Soils

63. A
Carmangay
Site
Comment #11
Soil salinity is an issue on the Blood
Reserve – cropping systems to control Soil
Salinity should be considered

64. Final Comments -
SOIL and LAND are essential to sustain human life and
provide economic sustainability to the people of the Blood
Reserve.
Final Comments:
• Work with agricultural land users to use sustainable crop
rotations and cropping practices to conserve your soil for
future generations.
• Carefully consider the long term effects of developments
including rural residences, roads, oil and gas wells,
pipelines, transmission lines, wind mills etc to protect
your land for future generations.

65. Questions ?

66. Ross H. McKenzie
Lethbridge, Alberta
Phone: 403-328-1001
rossmckenzie@shaw.ca