Grainswest - Tech 2026

Tech 2026 grainswest.com 15 BY GEOFF GEDDES • PHOTO COURTESY OF AAFC This soil information can guide future research, support soil health interpreta- tion efforts and provide a reference for farmers, researchers and organizations interested in evaluating changes in soil health under western Canadian condi- tions. This will be especially valuable in regions with soils, climate and agricul- tural systems like those in Alberta. “I believe this type of long-term da- taset is extremely valuable, because soil health monitoring is still evolving,” said Zavala. “The value increases significantly as additional years, management histo- ries and regional information are added. Continuing this work is important to fully realize the potential of the infor- mation being generated for producers, researchers, industry and future agricul- tural decision-making in Alberta.” Alberta-specific information was critical to the project, said Trevor Deer- ing, commercial innovation manager at Farming Smarter, one of the supporting associations. “In understanding the properties and indicators of soil health, growers need to know what those details mean to them,” said Deering. “If my field is showing a certain level of water infiltration speed, does that mean it is healthy or not?” In addition to funding and assistance with the trials, Farming Smarter worked to spread the word about project results and the importance of soil health. “We have been sharing details of the project at events and conferences,” said Deering. “It’s a complex topic, so the more we can raise awareness and advocate for future projects, the better it will be for growers.” MICROBE MANAGEMENT Microbes are key to the preservation of soil health and fertility. A recently completed project examined how micro- bial communities shape the carbon and nitrogen cycles in soils at a much deeper level than typically studied. Led by Monika Gorzelak, a soil mi- crobial ecologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), the project was conducted with the assistance of a regenerative farmer. “We were inter- ested in how Canadian agroecosystems can be altered with different agricul- tural management practices, including conventional cropland, rotational grazing and adaptive multi-paddock grazing,” said Patrick Neuberger, AAFC microbial ecology research technician. “We inves- tigated this through the lens of microbial community analysis and carbon storage analyses.” Researchers sampled soils to a depth of one metre and found regenerative graz- ing practices created systems with more chemically stable forms of carbon than conventional systems. These changes in carbon content were also associated with bacterial diversity. “The findings suggest an interaction between microbial communities and car- bon chemistry, where microbes regulate how carbon stabilizes and is stored over long periods of time,” said Neuberger. These results prompted scientists to fur- ther investigate how deeper soil horizons may represent a major and understudied reservoir of microbiology and carbon. Expanding their work into deep subsoils, they focused on how microbial commu- nities survive, and how, when they die, their remains are recycled. “A key advantage of this project is the use of advanced techniques to efficiently grow and isolate microbes in the lab from various environments,” said Neuberger. “This allowed us to determine what met- abolic functions they have and how that relates to carbon cycling.” “This work helps us understand how microbes regulate the formation and persistence of stable soil carbon,” said Neuberger. “This is valuable, as it contributes to agricultural and climate science through greenhouse gas (GHG) models, such as the Canadian Denitrifi- cation Decomposition (DNDC) model.” This computer simulation tool predicts the cycling of carbon and nitrogen in agricultural regions. “We know that by linking our work with the DNDC model, we will better predict GHG emissions and carbon sequestration. In doing so, we can develop agricultural systems that improve soil health, climate resilience and carbon storage. “As we learn more about how GHGs can be sequestered within agricultural soils, we are better equipped to find solutions,” said Neuberger. “For example, it may prove effective to convert rota- tional and conventional grazing systems to something more regenerative such as adaptive multi-paddock.” This practice supports soil health by rotating livestock to various areas of a pasture. As with the Alberta Soil Health Bench- mark, this microbe research primarily addresses Alberta challenges and solu- tions. “We will be following up on this study with one examining how different types of vegetation systems contribute to microbial diversity in southern Alberta,” said Neuberger. As scientists make strides in their understanding of soil health, this will continue to improve and refine the agro- nomic resources available to farmers. “Future soil health assessments can be compared directly with the existing dataset.” —Yamily Zavala