Canada: Making potatoes friendly to soil health

But when it comes to sustainability, they’ve got a hurdle to clear because there’s no escaping some level of soil disturbance when growing and harvesting. Why it matters: Soil health and minimized soil disturbance are major pillars in the push toward sustainable agriculture. That’s an issue for an underground crop. That doesn’t mean the relationship between soil health and the potato sector can’t improve, according to Cam Ogilvie of the Institute for Soil Health. “I’m part of an institution that’s based on science, so what I want to share with you is some real data-driven ways that we are thinking about soil health and particularly what that means in potato systems,” he said, speaking to potato growers at an industry event in Brandon in early 2024. Soil is the medium in which dead tissue is absorbed, recycled and rejuvenated into living tissue. In poetic terms, it’s the shop floor of nature’s factory. “Soil health is the continuous capacity of a soil to function, being able to do ...