ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER SUSTAINABILITY 13 Soils at Guelph will then, in turn, use the information to create resources for farmers. “We can create resources that could address [farmers’ questions about their soil] so that the reports themselves become more meaningful as tools for making decisions about how to manage their soil going forward,” says White. The program is free for farmers to participate, with Soils at Guelph covering the cost of the analysis of one sample per field; farmers can submit multiple samples. “We’re hoping to get the 1,000 samples this season, and then next year we're going to be going through all the data and making sense of it,” says White. “We're going to continue to meet and engage with farmers and advisors to figure out how to best present the data, what makes it most meaningful for them to be able to make decisions from it.” White emphasizes that the database contains aggregated data, meaning that individual farms' data is anonymous and no personal information is shared. The data will then be available for collaborating organizations to use in soil-specific research. HOW TO PARTICIPATE Farmers interested in participating in the project can visit www. soilsatguelph.ca/soil-health-testing or email soils@uoguelph.ca. More information about SHAP can be found at www.fieldcropnews.com. • Field Crop News Soil Health Testing
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