Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives
Soil Management Guide
Soils Information for Planning Purposes
Introduction
Soils information can be used for a variety of planning
purposes including land use planning, environmental farm
planning and watershed management planning. All of these
planning processes attract a range of stakeholders that are
interested in the activities that take place in their
communities. Often there are a number of land uses, including
agriculture, industry, residential areas and recreation that
compete for a limited land base.
In Manitoba, land use planning is principally a local process,
where local people and their representatives make decisions
about allocating land, providing appropriate services, promoting
a good quality of life for residents, ensuring orderly
development and the prudent use of natural resources. To ensure
that development occurs in ways that are compatible with the
environment and adjacent land uses, municipal development plans
and by-laws are often developed. The intent of these is to
designate and protect land for certain purposes in order to
promote development, avoid land use conflicts, protect property
values, provide efficient servicing, promote healthy and safe
living environment and protect natural resources.
The Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) is a voluntary process in
Manitoba that producers can participate in to assess
environmental risks and benefits associated with their land base
and management practices. The first step of the EFP is to
evaluate the farm’s land assets and to identify any sensitive
areas within the land base. Once these areas are identified, any
risks to the environment associated with their management, is
determined. Finally, an action plan is developed that addresses
the environmental risks in a manner that makes a field or the
whole farm more productive and cost-efficient.
Watershed management planning is also gaining popularity in
Manitoba. A watershed management plan is the prescribed use of a
watershed in accordance with predetermined objectives. A
watershed is an area of land that sheds water to a common point
or the area of land drained by a given watercourse. It does not
follow political boundaries and can include multiple
municipalities and cross international borders. Therefore,
watershed management planning often has the extra challenge of
involving multiple agencies having responsibility for various
activities in the watershed. Normally, all stakeholders located
within the watershed are invited to participate in their
watershed management plan.
A. Land Use Planning
The ultimate authority to regulate land use in Manitoba is
vested with municipalities. In accordance with The Planning
Act, municipalities may enact development plans and zoning
by-laws to plan for and regulate land use and the location and
operation of developments. The Provincial Land Use Policies are
adopted as a Regulation (184/94) under The Planning Act
and outline the broader provincial and public interests in land
use and are used as a guide for municipalities when creating
their land use plans. The Provincial Land Use Policies
Regulation encompasses development policies in nine broad policy
areas (including agriculture).
Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives is just one
stakeholder in land use planning. From a provincial standpoint,
there is a need to protect our food production potential and the
role of agriculture in the local, provincial and national
economy. Agriculture depends upon productive soil and therefore,
it makes long-term economic and environmental sense for land use
plans to encourage the protection of both prime agricultural
lands and viable lower class lands that are used for agriculture
and the conservation of soil. In order to do this, reliable
detailed soil survey information is used in order to determine
the agricultural capability of the soil in an area. Prime
agricultural lands are defined as land composed of mineral
soil to be of dryland agricultural capability Class 1, 2 or 3
and includes a land unit of one quarter section or more, or a
river lot, 60% or more of which is comprised of land of dryland
agricultural capability Class 1, 2 or 3. The province and local
governments have recognized that prime agricultural lands need
to be protected for food production, agricultural
diversification, and value-added opportunities by minimizing the
subdivision and wasteful use of this land and protecting farms
from encroachment and disturbance by other land uses which may
be incompatible with normal farming operations.
Dependable Agricultural Land
 |
Source: Environment Canada 1982,
Lands Directorate, CGIS Database Statistics Canada 1999, Environment Accounts |
“Comprehensive regional planning with soils maps is essential to allocate soil resources for the future. Urban sprawl not only occupies the best soils, but also creates pressures on other soils that have severe limitations. Thus…comprehensive community planning, with detailed soils maps of large areas, will help to prevent some of the land abuse of the past. The future must be given higher priority than it has been given in the past, if peace, progress and prosperity is to be achieved."
(Olson, 1984, p.140)
For more information on land use planning and land use policies,
contact the
Land Use Planning Knowledge Centre in Manitoba Agriculture,
Food and Rural Initiatives.
B. The Environmental Farm Plan
As agricultural producers strive to increase efficiency on
their farms, there is also mounting pressure on producers to
ensure the environment is being protected. In any given farm
operation, “sensitive areas” may exist that present an increased
risk to surface or groundwater through leaching, runoff and/or
erosion. These areas often also provide inconsistent or
continuously poor yields and lower economic returns. Therefore,
it makes both environmental and agronomic sense that they should
be managed differently from the more productive areas of the
farm.
Producers that complete an Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) do a
self-assessment of their farm in order to identify sensitive
areas and natural risks. They use this assessment to prepare an
action plan to address those risks. The identification of
sensitive areas and natural risks provides the farm managers
(whether it is the producer, landowner, agronomist or custom
applicator) with additional information that they can use to
voluntarily adjust their management practices in a manner that
makes economic sense and minimizes any impacts on the quality of
soil, water, air or biodiversity. The EFP process demonstrates
how the agriculture industry is finding solutions to managing
environmental risks without the onus of regulation.
Section A of the EFP uses aerial photographs, published soils
information as well as the producer’s knowledge of the land to
identify the sensitive areas on the farm. Once identified,
sensitive areas can be managed separately to improve their
productivity and minimize any impacts on water quality. Soil
sampling and crop scouting these areas separately from the rest
of the field prevents biasing composite sampling procedures
meant to represent the majority or “average” portions of the
field, and allows for the determination of the yield-limiting
factors in the sensitive areas and their appropriate management.
By combining various sources of information (such as aerial
photographs, cropping history, yield records, yield maps and
soils maps) with the producers’ experience and agronomic
knowledge, the EFP makes it possible for producers to conduct a
thorough assessment of the type, location, extent and severity
of limitations on their farms.
Recommendations
- Evaluate your farmstead for the potential risks of runoff and leaching.
- Examine aerial photos of your fields and identify any sensitive areas.
- Use the agriculture capability table (Table 2.2) and your experience to assess the type and severity of the limitations in each field.
- Based on what you know about your fields, consult soil survey reports to confirm or re-assess your lands.
- Fill out the summary chart (Table 10.1) to record field information for your farm. Keep this information available as you complete the other worksheets.
- Use this information to help you choose agronomic practices that will decrease the potential for environmental degradation.
- Consult the appropriate agricultural extension specialist for additional information and support.
Table 10.1 Compilation of field assessments and risks using
agriculture capability codes
| Lower Risk (1) =
No risks or only stoniness (P) identified. Stoniness is
an agronomic limitation but presents little or no risk
to the environment. Higher Risk (4) = Some risks identified - R (bedrock), M (sand or gravel), T (slope), I (flooding), W (wetness including clayey soils with improved drainage), N (salinity) or E (erosion) |
|
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Click on table for printable version |
| * Sloping lands increase the
risk to the environment from runoff. The exception to
this is sandy/gravelly soils because water can
infiltrate these soils before runoff occurs. ** Heavy clay soils with improved surface drainage present a risk to the environment from runoff. Although some of these soils are our most productive agricultural soils, they would be bumped from the green (little or no limitations) column to the blue (runoff risk). *** Should there be more than one risk factor on the same acreage, it should be noted (i.e. slope and stones). Therefore, total acres may not equal farmer acres. |
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C. Integrated Watershed Management Planning
Community-based watershed management is a process for
managing water resources that involves engaging stakeholders in
making and implementing management decisions that are
sustainable and appropriate for local conditions. In Manitoba,
The Water Protection Act specifies the basic content of an
integrated watershed management plan including the requirement
for consultation with various parties through a local watershed
authority. Through this process, agricultural producers are
working together with other local stakeholders to develop
strategies to protect and enhance the quality of water within
their watershed with positive impacts downstream.
Local knowledge, combined with technical information from
provincial and federal government departments and other
agencies, is considered throughout the planning process.
Information related to the study area is first compiled into a
state of the watershed report (a resource inventory). It often
includes soils information such as soil texture, agriculture
capability and areas prone to wind and water erosion. This
inventory is then used to identify areas where improvements
could be made through a change in management practices.
Community consultations occur at various times during the
planning process in several communities throughout the
watershed. At these meetings, additional information is sought
from the public on watershed resource issues and on the proposed
watershed management plan.
The integrated watershed management plan addresses how
implementation will occur and provides a mechanism to measure
future progress on meeting resource goals and objectives. The
plan allows the watershed authority to set programming agendas
and direct annual funding to watershed priorities. The watershed
management plan must also be considered in the municipal
development plan in order to avoid potential conflicts with
existing or future development in the watershed.
An integrated watershed management plan helps to ensure that the
resources in the watershed are managed in a sustainable manner.
The input and support of local stakeholders results in solutions
that are customized to the area and are therefore more likely to
be implemented because of the community support received.
 Figure 10.1 Example of a watershed |
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