Focusing on plant diversity

The Stanley Soil Management Association (SSMA) held its AGM last week.

Joseph Gardiner, Co-founder of Covers & Co. at Crystal City, Manitoba, was the keynote speaker.

He talked to the virtual group about plant diversity.

"We have a common conception of how agriculture works and that is monocropping. We grow a field of wheat or field of canola and our eyes fail to look at the blueprint that mother nature has put out for us. A high grade variety of plants, plants that grow at different heights capturing sunlight at different heights, rooted different levels, capture sunlight at different times, have different growing seasons."

Gardiner says the key is creating diversity with the plants that are growing and capturing photosynthetic energy at different times of the year.

"By doing that, we can capture sunlight more efficiently and feed the biology in the soil eco-system, so our soils can infiltrate water and air and create homes for biology that are responsible for growing the plants that we need to survive."