To achieve these goals, the AESA So

To achieve these goals, the AESA Soil Quality Monitoring Program set out in 1997 to:
• monitor soils through a multi-site benchmark program,
• provide extension services and information to stakeholders,
• assess the risk associated with soil loss or deterioration on agricultural production, and
• develop the science and understanding of soil quality in an Alberta context.
To address the AESA Soil Quality Monitoring Program’s goal of monitoring soils using a
multi-site benchmark program, the AESA Soil Quality Benchmark Sites program was developed.
This program consisted of 42 benchmark sites representing farms and soils in each of Alberta’s
seven main agricultural ecoregions. Soil quality indicators (e.g., bulk density, organic matter,
fertility, etc.) were monitored at each site from 1998 to 2006, where data were collected at three
landscape positions along a catena (upper, mid and lower landscape position), as well as at two
sampling depths (0 to 15 cm and 15 to 30 cm).
Specifically, the AESA Soil Quality Benchmark Sites program was designed to:
• provide spatial and temporal baseline soil information across the province,
• evaluate landscape position effects on soil properties and quality,
• provide a dataset to test and validate simulation models,
• monitor changes in soil quality on a field landscape basis over time, and
• examine the relationship between farm management practices and soil quality, if
changes in soil quality were identified.