Andrew McClelland
The Advocate
For renowned soil scientist Odette Ménard, why we do something in agriculture is much more important than how we do it.
“We don’t ask ourselves the ‘why’ part of doing what we do in agriculture often enough,” Ménard said. “I’ve been to so many meetings where the focus is just on ‘How can we do this?’ But if you don’t know why you’re doing something, sometimes it’ll work — and sometimes it really will not work.”
Ménard has been at the cutting edge of getting farmers to change the way they think about farming the soil for nearly 40 years.
Starting as an agronome in 1988, the Ange-Gardien native became MAPAQ’s regional adviser on soil and water conservation, covering the Montérégie region for 36 years.
That job made Ménard quickly realize the negative effects of traditional agricultural practices on soils. Just as quickly, she became a leading voice for conservation and no-till practices — at first in Quebec and then throughout the world. She’s spoken and led projects on farms as far away as Australia and Ukraine; in 2013, she was invited to speak at the U.S. National No-Till Conference in Indianapolis and received the prize for best lecture.
“When I started over 30 years ago, producers found it funny to see someone showing up with just a shovel to look at what’s in the soil,” Ménard said.
Look at your soil
“Back then, we were relying on the labs to tell us about our soil. But now, we’re coming around to the idea that the first step is to do a soil profile. And as you see your soil, as you see its living potential, then you can understand the impact of tillage, machinery and chemicals.”
In 2005, Ménard became the first Quebecer and the first woman to be inducted into the Canadian Soil Conservation Hall of Fame. The accolades followed one after another as she worked tirelessly to promote sustainable agricultural practices focusing on soil health. In 2013, Ménard created the Caravane santé des sols (Soil Health Caravan), a program that allows experts to visit farms to assess soil health and propose solutions.
Most recently, Ménard received the high honour of being inducted to the “Temple de la renommée de l’agriculture du Québec” (the Quebec Agriculture Hall of Fame) in November 2024.
Earthworms are key
But to her friends and followers, she is often called “Madame Vers de Terre” (Madame Earthworm), a term of endearment that points to Ménard’s reminder that these invertebrates recycle crop residue left on the soil, stimulate biological activity and promote root growth.
“The data has been there for a long time: earthworms help with drought resistance; infiltration; climate control because of their effect on organic carbon; nutrient availability due to the carbon transformation they’re doing and because of the stable root galleries they create,” Ménard said. “They are vital to taking care of the residue at the soil surface. And you can see them with your own eyes just by looking.”
Looking at the soil was the theme of the evening as Ménard spoke to members of the Quebec Farmers’ Association during a videoconference May 28.
The CRO2P. concept
“I like to start all my talks with the ending, just in case we get carried away and run out of time,” Ménard said with characteristic humour. “You have to remember the ‘crop’ concept for having healthy soil — that’s CRO2P.”
CRO2P, Ménard explained, is a helpful acronym to remember the four essential criteria for soil health and conservation. “C” for “cover” — a minimum coverage of 30 per cent after sowing must be achieved to adequately protect the soil against erosion, from both wind and water, and the sun.
“R” is for “roots.” Roots are essential for maintaining microbial life in the soil and, thus, ensuring both a better structure and better structural stability.
“O2” is for oxygen. And “P” is for “porosity.”
“We need to make sure that we don’t break our soil’s porosity,” Menard said. “Soil porosity is really related to machinery, and the weight that we put on our soil. Maintaining the wheel load below 3,500 kilograms is necessary to maximize soil porosity.”
Over the course of her career, she’s influenced thousands and developed a following of devotees who have applied her research to their farms to great success. But for Ménard, the first rule of agriculture is to observe the soil and ask deceptively simple questions about what farming is.
“How many of us can say that our soils are healthy? How do we even measure our soil’s health? And once we’ve determined that, where does soil health fit into our farm management?”