Soil Health Project 2024-07-25T18:02:11+00:00

Soil Health Project for Horticulture Producers

This project aims to provide free soil health testing for horticulture farmers who seek to understand and improve their soil structure, crop quality, optimize yields, enhance economic efficiency, and manage soil fertility.

Soil health testing plays a critical role in climate change adaptation for horticulture farms in several key ways:

  • enhances resilience to extreme weather,
  • nutrient management, carbon sequestration,
  • erosion control, biodiversity and ecosystem services,
  • informed crop selection, and
  • sustainable water use.

The collected data will establish a comprehensive baseline of soil health for horticulture farmers in Nova Scotia.

This project has been funded by Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change.

Eligibility

Applicants are Horticulture Nova Scotia members, and
Producers of berries and/or vegetables grown and sold in Nova Scotia.
Farming activities must be carried out within the Province of Nova Scotia.
Applicants must be Registered Farmers in Nova Scotia with annual berry and/or vegetable income shown in Statements of Farming activities in most recent 2 years of submitted tax returns.
Applicants agree to share soil health results for baseline data collection with NSDA and HNS.

Why take part in this project?

Soil testing methods offer meaningful measures which can be used for making good management decisions, increasing productivity, making more efficient use of inputs and reducing environmental pollution.
These soil health measures can give an indication of the overall health of your soils and, if tracked regularly, can show the impact your management practices are having on soil health over time. Soil health testing is recommended every 3-5 years.

Cost:   FREE

How long is this project being offered?

Fall 2024 – One time offer.

Program Process:

STEP 1  Apply to project by filling out ALL requested information on form provided below.

STEP 2  HNS will contact you to arrange an allotted time for soil sampling to take place post-harvest (September/October 2024).

STEP 3  A contracted soil health assistant will visit your farm to collect soil samples from up to ten horticulture fields or protected areas of your choice, which will then be transported to the NS Soil Lab and PEI Analytical Lab for analysis.

STEP 4  The soil samples will be analyzed during the fall and winter months of 2024/25.

STEP 5  Test results will be sent via email before spring 2025.

STEP 6  A soil health results “workshop” will be held in late winter or early spring to help you understand and interpret your results.

Testing Included (Learn about the tests included)

  • Biological Nitrogen Availability
  • Total Nitrogen
  • Total Carbon
  • S1 package (pH, LR, OM, P2 O5, K2O, Ca, Mg, Na, S, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Al, B, CEC, Base Sat., nutrient requirements and recommendations)
  • Available Water Capacity
  • Aggregate Stability
  • Soil Respiration
  • Active Carbon

How to apply? Click here to fill out Application Form before August 9.

For any additional information, please contact Cheryl@horticulturens.ca or 1.902.300.8267.