Media Releases and Opportunities

Soils are a critical nature-based solution for combating climate change by sequestering carbon into the ground. However, the data required to support mitigation strategies and the infrastructure to enable cost-effective monitoring, reporting and verification of soil resources are lacking.

To address that need, the federal government has committed $6.9 million over the next five years to a Dalhousie-led research program focused on modernizing Canada's soil-data infrastructure.

Dr. Brandon Heung, an associate professor in Dalhousie's Faculty of Agriculture, is leading the project which will develop both a National Soil Data Inventory and the Canadian Soil Spectral Library to reduce the cost of soil analysis by leveraging advances in soil sensing.

This new data will allow the team from the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, University of Saskatchewan, University of Manitoba and University of Guelph to create high-resolution national maps of critical soil properties and to get a better handle on soil-based greenhouse gas sequestration and emissions.

It will also be used for a Canadian Soil Data Portal, an online platform that will allow users, including farmers, foresters, students and policy makers, to access and visualize soil data and view national-scale soil maps.

Dr. Heung is available to discuss this ambitious project and how the need for soil data is increasingly relevant in addressing food security, carbon sequestration and the achievement of a net-zero economy.

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Media contact:

Alison Auld
Senior Research Reporter
Communications, Marketing and Creative Services
Dalhousie University
Cell: 1-902-220-0491
Email: alison.auld@dal.ca