The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA) is getting ready to update its soil management recommendations for farmers in the province.
That job will be in the hands of the Ontario Soil Management Committee (OSMC), a group that’s been around since the late 1980s, and has acted as a gatekeeper of guidelines published in various OMAFA management publications, including the provincial agronomy guide for field crops, vegetable production guide and soil fertility handbook.
OMAFA soil fertility specialist Colin Elgie says the ministry has been hearing calls from farmers and industry for the need to update soil recommendations and a refreshed OSMC will be tasked with the chore.
“One of the things I hear pretty consistently is that our Ontario recommendations are outdated or they don’t fit our high yields,” says Elgie. He notes that the purpose of the committee is to identify recommendations that need updating, and to work with farmers, researchers, agronomists and industry to ensure “we’re getting good, valid data to support updating those recommendations.”
Elgie notes that OSMC membership is drawn from government, the research community, representatives from industry and farm organizations. Expertise will be drawn from wide areas of soil management and ad-hoc experts will be consulted for specific areas.
In this interview with Bernard Tobin, recorded last week at the Ontario CCA annual meeting in London, Elgie discussed the OSMC reboot, and how the committee will be asked to focus on four different themes over the next five years. Those include: strengthening 4R practices and knowledge; integrating and increasing knowledge regarding production economics and environmental impact; soil conservation practices; and integrating all inputs — including manure, compost and organic amendments — into recommendations. More information about OSMC can be found here.
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