Agriculture committee  The Council is not opposed to city sewage being used on the land. Scientists tell us that it is good for the soil. It adds nutrients and organic matter to the land. Of course, the sewage has to be properly managed. Ontario, for example, has regulations about the amount of sewage

Agriculture committee  That would be a very good idea, because we have to show people that it is feasible. At home, we only have three or four crops, but we do rotate them. We put in cover plants to try to make up for it. I have not yet found a market for hay. It does not work. I do not have the machi

Agriculture committee  Do you want to know what my priorities are?

Agriculture committee  Improving the health of our soils would help us enormously in increasing their resiliency and productivity. We also need to see if it possible to promote zero tillage more, a technique that involves planting, without working and tilling the soil.

Agriculture committee  You want to know whether there is a way to find out whether our soils have degraded in the last 20 years?

Agriculture committee  In our view, you would have to measure the organic matter in the soil. We are talking about its structural stability. Soil is made up of little pieces.

Agriculture committee  You have to see whether they dissolve immediately when they are put in water or whether they remain intact. If they remain intact, it indicates true stability and that is very good. However, if the soil has been worked a lot and lacks organic matter, the pieces dissolve in water

Agriculture committee  Most farmers take soil samples and analyze the organic matter. At home, I have seen a 1% increase in organic matter since we began to go to zero tillage. It is quite incredible. Normally, you hope for an increase of 0.1% or 0.2% in two or three years, but, on my farm, I have seen

Agriculture committee  Our council is really trying to reduce tillage and working the soil. If we could find a zero tillage system for all crops it would be fantastic, but I have not yet found one for potatoes. Zero tillage does not work for potatoes. It is still difficult for vegetables, carrots for e

Agriculture committee  If I may, I will answer in English. It is a little easier for me.

Agriculture committee  What kind of research are we looking for? Certainly, we need soil health research. There is some soil health research going on. There could be an awful lot more. I mentioned that one of the things we would really like to see is in terms of the costs and consequences of soil deg

Agriculture committee  I do for sure. Anything that increases research and innovation funding for agriculture, in our view, is a win. There are lots and lots of opportunities. What we unfortunately see, as I mentioned in my presentation, is a lot of research happening but not getting out to the farm po

Agriculture committee  For sure. Diversity of crop cover is obviously very important. We promote, very strongly, crop rotation. In Ontario, where I am from, crop rotation is not phenomenal. We have a lot of corn, soybeans, corn, soybeans. That's not a crop rotation. We'd much rather see a three or four

Agriculture committee  Certainly, pricing carbon incentivizes change on the agricultural landscape, in particular, if you can do some kind of offset system or something where farmers get paid to sequester carbon.

Agriculture committee  Our concern would be, once that happens, what incentivizes them to keep it there?