Western Producer: Soil erosion costs farmers $3.1 billion a year in yield loss: scientist

As the Western Producer reports: 

David Lobb is not giving up.

For more than a decade, the University of Manitoba soil scientist has argued that soil erosion remains a massive problem in Canada, especially in hilly landscapes like the prairie pothole region.

Farmers may assume zero tillage or conservation tillage have fixed the problem, but that’s not the case.

Lobb believes 10 percent of Canada’s cropland has moderately to severely eroded soil. The poorer yields on 10 percent of the land base is costing Canadian farmers about $3.1 billion each year in lost productivity. 

“The areas where soil erosion has been most severe, like the hilltops … you have almost no capacity to grow crops, or plants of any type,” said Lobb, who spoke late January at Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon.