Morgan's connection to soil

I have been asked numerous times "why soil?" when I tell people what I do.  Being a soil scientist is not something most people are familiar with.  Its not something recognizable like doctor, lawyer, or accountant, but I love studying it.

I suppose a love of soil is in my blood.  I come from a long line of farmers who have worked on the land for many generations.  I grew up on the original homestead that my great-great grandparents settled in 1903 and there was always a sense of how important the land around us was.  I spent my childhood helping out on the farm and being surrounded by farming activities constantly.

My childhood spent on the farm.

However, it took me a while to figure out that I wanted to study soil.  No one ever tells you that you can be a soil scientist.  I thought if I went into the College of Agriculture, I would become a farmer and that wasn't something I was interested in when I was 19.  I wanted to be an environmental scientist, so I started out in Physical Geography; however, eventually I started hearing about some amazing courses being taught in Soil Science.  It was then that I started taking a few of these classes and quickly realized there was a lot more to soil than just farming.  When you think about it, after air and water, soil is right up there with things necessary for sustaining life on Earth.  It provides us with food, stores and purifies water, provides and recycles nutrients for plants.  Soil is connected to so many aspects of our lives and yet we often don't take good care of it.  I was so enamored with soil by then, that I spent a summer working in the Department of Soil Science as a summer student.

I finally finished my undergraduate degree with a BSc in Environmental Earth Sciences and headed to Calgary to find a job.  I worked as an environmental scientist with a consulting company for a couple years and I soon discovered that most of the work I did involved soil.  Soil was usually what was being contaminated and impacted by pollutants. But I also learned that soil microorganisms have amazing capabilities to reduce those contaminants if we supply them with the substrate that they need.  Eventually I realized I wanted to learn more about soil and decided to pursue my MSc in Soil Science back in Saskatoon.

Photo courtesy of Rich Farrell

Studying soil science has allowed me to combine two areas that I never realized went together so well: environmental issues and agriculture.  Soil is key to agriculture, but environmental issues are becoming more and more important to look at in every aspect of our lives.  Most of my work now focuses on greenhouse gas emissions from different crops and crop rotations.  So 'why soil?' - well, studying soil allows me to combine my interest in the environment and my life long experience with farming.

Collecting greenhouse gas samples from agricultural plots