News

Organic Nova Scotia and Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op are teaming up with the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada (OACC) at Dalhousie University, to launch a new research initiative focused on drought resilience on Nova Scotia farms. The project will use the latest digital soil mapping technologies coupled with field management history, farmer insights, and farmer accessible soil health measurements.

“The goal is to apply the latest farmer accessible tools and technological services in a way that are useful to farmers.” explains Dr. Andrew Hammermeister, lead on the project at Dalhousie University. “We want to see how detailed, field scale digital soil mapping can be coupled with other soil health assessments so that they can be support farmers in making management decisions.”

Climate variability and increased frequency of droughts present significant challenges for agricultural producers across Nova Scotia. Having detailed maps of soil properties in a field lay a foundation for knowing how fields might respond under different conditions.

Healthy soils are widely recognized as being fundamental to resilient production systems. Researchers will work directly with participating farms to evaluate soil health using a combination of high-resolution SoilOptix® digital soil mapping, laboratory analysis, including Solvita® CO₂ Burst tests, and a thorough documentation of the field’s management history.

The study will assess resilience indicators such as soil organic matter, microbial activity, and soil structure to improve the understanding of how soil health influences water retention and infiltration.

Farm recruitment and field assessments will take place throughout the 2026 growing season. Findings will be used to generate case studies, technical resources, and educational materials to be shared with producers and agricultural organizations and institutions across Nova Scotia.

This initiative represents a collaborative effort among researchers, producers, and industry partners. The Dalhousie research team will include the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada, Atlantic Insitute for Digital Agriculture, and the Centre for Sustainable Soil Management. Organic Nova Scotia will support farmer coordination and project promotion and Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op is contributing to research and outreach activities. The project will also welcome the participation of Perennia and ACORN in supporting communication activities.

The project is funded by the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, Organic Nova Scotia, Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op, and Dalhousie Universities Organic Agriculture Fund (which is supported by charitable contributions).

For more information contact: Andrew Hammermeister; andrew.hammermeister@dal.ca; 902-893-8037