Kevin Elmy is burying his underwear in the fields of his Saltcoats area seed farm.
Elmy’s efforts are part of an initiative being termed ‘Soil Your Undies’ Soil Conservation Council of Canada.
The idea is to use the buried underwear as a simple way to gauge soil health, explained Elmy during a plot tour at his Friendly Acres Seed Farm Sunday.
Using cotton underwear anyone can investigate biological activity in farm fields or even in backyard gardens.
You bury the underwear in topsoil for about two months and then dig them up to check the level of decomposition, explained Elmy. If there’s not much left of the underwear you have good biological activity, which indicates healthy soil. These same soil organisms can break down plant materials in much the same way.
Elmy said he heard of the idea from an Ontario farmer.
“It was a soil health demo I heard about from Blake Vince,” he explained.
Elmy, who is always intrigued by new farm innovations, said the simplicity of the test made it worth trying.
“It’s a simple demo of putting cotton underwear in the soil,” he told Yorkton This Week. “Soil microbes will eat the underwear. More microbe activity more of the underwear will disappear.”
The idea is actually part of a broader initiative which was launched as part of National Soil Conservation Week. Through the campaign, the SCCC wants everyone who cares about soil health to bury a pair of cotton undergarments to witness firsthand the activity that happens right under our feet. All you need is a new pair of white 100 per cent cotton briefs, a shovel, a marker flag and a patch of soil to bury your undies.
“What better way to understand the inner workings of our soil than with your own easy-to-do soil science experiment,” said SCCC chair and Ontario farmer, Alan Kruszel in an online release. “Healthy soil is full of amazing, living organisms. It is what sustains us and is the foundation of a thriving civilization. In order to show just how important healthy soils are to Canadians, the Council wants to pique the public’s interest with our Soil Your Undies initiative. We hope those who take part will share their experiences and their love for soil with us and their social networks.”
So why is monitoring soil health important?
Soil produces 95 per cent of the food we eat, detailed the SCCC.
“Soil is a living breathing system that provides nutrients and water to crops as well as homes to billions of soil organisms,” it detailed. “These organisms feed growing crops by turning dead plant material into useable nutrients. They also help create soil organic matter, which holds water and reduces the risk of soil erosion. Even though healthy soil is critical to the economic and environmental sustainability of the agri-food industry, it is increasingly under stress.”
These stresses include:
* the expansion of our cities and communities;
* increased demands on soils to grow food for growing populations;
* changes in cropping, tillage and other practices that can degrade soil health; and
* increased frequency of extreme weather due to climate change, which can speed up soil degradation.
The annual cost of soil degradation in Canada is estimated at over $3 billion each and every year, and this will only increase if nothing is done.
While this was year one for Elmy, with only a couple of pairs of underwear buried in his plot trials, he sees enough value in the effort to expand the idea in 2019.
“Next year we will have more around the farm,” he said, adding, “it may be like looking for Easter eggs with my memory.”
A helpful step-by-step guide on how to properly Soil Your Undies is available at www.soilcc.ca.
