- [Daihuru] Soil erosion affects our community
and our families.
It washes away our crops.
(solemn pensive music)
Our soil has a lot of problems
because we are using it since our grandfathers.
For over 100 years it's been tilled.
The nutrient's decreasing.
- As the global population increases,
we need to produce more.
If we don't look after our soils
going out another generation or two,
that we will really start to feel
that our soils have become depleted.
- [Daihuru] That means low-yield harvest
or even zero harvest.
(Tek speaks in foreign language)
- [Daihuru] So there is very, very important need
to improve the soil for the full survival of human beings.
(pensive string music)
- University of Guelph has a long tradition
in soil science research.
We're diverse.
We're linked to the industry.
We're connected to governments.
And we have the infrastructure to explore
and innovate in soil science.
Soil sustainability is protecting the soil,
preventing erosion, minimizing degradation.
- [Claudia] We want to leave soil for future generations.
- [Thomas] Anytime you lose some of your soil,
you're essentially losing the medium
in which you grow your crop.
- The University of Guelph is ideally positioned
to do this research
because we have such an excellent intersection
of different disciplines all dedicated to improvement
of agro ecosystems.
It's not a matter of just one researcher dedicating time
to try to solve them.
We need multidisciplinary teams that include the breadth
of the social sciences, to biology,
to animal science, plant science, economics, soil sciences.
We need these teams working together
to come up with solutions
that will lead to sustainable food production
that minimizes the impact on the environment.
- I think for every farm,
there's different soil management practices that can work.
We need to kind of take a toolbox approach
where different management practices can be integrated,
minimizing tillage as much as possible,
increasing the number of crops that you grow,
adding things like cover crops
so that you don't have any bare soil on the ground.
- Resilient cropping systems
which can de-risk the growers.
And when we talk about resilience,
it all comes back from that regenerative agriculture.
So we are trying to identify the management practices
which will be able
to withstand those extreme weather events,
which will be more resilient,
which will be more sustainable.
- It's important that researchers are doing this kind
of work because they're taking the risk for the farmers
and providing the information to us.
- My research informs practices
that farmers can use to decrease the environmental impact.
It also informs policy.
- The innovation that we have right here in Ontario
at the University of Guelph is leading globally.
- [Kari] I'm looking at things like
how we can use better soil management practices
to protect soil health.
- Our next steps are really
about conducting high-level research
but also working together with the practitioners
and listening to what is going on at the farm level.
- I think the future of soil science is in problem-solving,
looking at climate change, protecting our water resources.
- [Kari] Find ways that we can increase yields
and increase production and also increase profitability.
- [Claudia] By concentrating on making soils healthy,
there's great potential to revert some of the trends
in terms of soil degradation, climate change,
and decreased food security.
- [Daihuru] I am proud to be a farmer.
It's a very good business.
I went to my children and my community to improve
and adopt farming.
- [Thomas] I have three young children,
which I would like to leave a farm for them
in better shape than when I started.
(Tek speaks in foreign language)
(solemn pensive music)