The capacity or fitness of soils to support crop growth without becoming degraded or otherwise harming the environment must be maintained. Moreover, high capability farmlands are limited in Canada, and from an agricultural perspective, these must be conserved for production. Background Soil Quality Soil, naturally formed from existing parent material such as eroded rock and dead organic matter, must be sustainably managed because it is not quickly replaced.
Soils provide many valuable services to society.
Their value as a medium for crop production has long been recognized, and their degradation, as might result from wind and water erosion, salinization, loss of organic matter, or compaction, is a concern in every agricultural region of Canada. Farmers depend on healthy soil for their livelihood, and therefore have a direct economic incentive to ensure it is sustained as a medium for growing crops. Less well known are other ways in which agricultural soils benefit society, such as by providing habitat for some species, retaining and filtering water, and by sequestering carbon, thus helping mitigate the greenhouse effect. Through good soil management practices, farmers can enhance such public benefits of soils. Canada's farmers have, in general, considerably improved the sustainability of their soil management practices on land used for crops and grazing.