Excerpt
ONLY a small portion of Canada's land area is suitable for agricultural production. Half of the agricultural capability class 1 land (no significant limitations for cropping) is in Ontario (2). Ontario farmers, therefore, have a responsibility to maintain these soils in a highly productive state in the interests of Canada's food sufficiency.
Soil erosion ever-presently challenges this goal because weather, soil types, and cropping practices in the province are conducive to soil movement (3). And current economic constraints narrow the farmer's choice of soil management programs. Some farmers must resort to less desirable practices, from a conservation point of view, to meet short-term financial obligations.
In this setting, two questions seem important: Can conservation tillage become an integral part of profitable soil management in Ontario? Will conservation tillage maximize profits while protecting the soil resource against accelerated erosion?
A land of variability
Ontario encompasses many soil types and enormous variability in climatic conditions and cropping practices. Northern Ontario has relatively little agricultural land. What there is is devoted to cereals, hay, and pasture. Soil erosion is a minor problem except in newly cleared areas where drainage outlets are not protected.
Mixed farming predominates in eastern Ontario …
Footnotes
J. W. Ketcheson is a professor in the Department of Land Resource Science and D. P. Stone-house is an associate professor in the School of Agricultural Economics and Extension Education, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1. This paper is a contribution from the University of Guelph, with financial assistance from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
- Copyright 1983 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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