Long-term Commercial Trial Shows Opportunity to Improve Soil

Near Birch Hills, the team at HumaTerra has been conducting a field-scale demonstration trial with their soil inoculant H-Start on a quarter section of land.  This fall, after 5 years of trials, they dug pits in two of the trial areas to examine the full impact on the soil.  What these pits revealed was an impressive change in the soil that not only supported what they were seeing from standard soil testing but went beyond what they expected.

To understand the impact of H-Start, HumaTerra researchers divided a quarter section of land into four distinct quadrants. Focusing on the untreated versus long-term treated areas has provided the opportunity to see how the soil has improved.

The untreated quadrant has approximately 6” of darker A horizon, with a visible and measurable compaction layers at approximately 4” depth. The 5-year treated area has approximately 9-12” of darker A horizon, with a diminishing compacted layer and evidence of increased accumulation of soil organic matter that extends into the B horizon below.

Figure 1 shows visual evidence of compaction in the soil profile of the untreated soil, indicated by the platy layers bridging above the crumbling soil. In the H-Start treated soil in Figure 2, there is a larger proportion of dark A horizon and less visible compaction. The treated soil pit stood up better to natural weathering processes, indicating better soil aggregation than the untreated soil pit.

“We knew we were making an impact on the soil,” says Leon Pratchler, CEO of HumaTerra.  “We could see in the soil DNA tests, water productivity data by Crop Intelligence, satellite imagery, and 3rd party observations that H-Start was making an impact. And now visual confirmation of the soil’s colour and structural changes adds another chapter to the story.”

All agricultural land has variability in compaction, water infiltration and storage, and nutrient availability. These challenges can be addressed over time by improving the diversity of soil microbial populations.

H-Start is a soil inoculant that introduces naturally-occurring, beneficial soil fungi and bacteria directly to the field.  Over the 5 years of treatment, the soil has changed, showing an increase in the depth of darker soil, indicating expansion of the organic matter and other materials into the B horizon.

“We look to our soil to support a healthy crop year after year.  And each year those crops face pressures from disease to drought or compaction and salinity,” says Pratchler.  “We’re seeing in both the research trials and farmer use that healthy soil, with a diverse microbiome, makes crops more resilient to those pressures. Healthy soil means healthier plants that perform better even when conditions aren’t ideal.”

About HumaTerra & H-Start

Since 2016, HumaTerra has been on a mission to improve soil health and productivity by increasing the diversity, density, and resilience of microorganisms in soils across Western Canada. Today, they employ over 20 people from Alberta to Ontario, with their headquarters and production facility located in Birch Hills, Saskatchewan.

Their product, H-Start, is a Saskatchewan-made, pelleted soil inoculant containing a broad spectrum of naturally occurring, dormant fungi and bacteria. It is DNA tested for quality to ensure it has the correct beneficial microbial communities that are important for healthy soil in Western Canada. H-Start can be used anywhere that plants grow – from agricultural fields to oil and gas wells to home gardens.

Thank you to Bench Strength Marketing for submitting the article and photos