By: Alan Kruszel, Provincial Director for Eastern Valley
OSCIA Director Alan Kruszel was an invited speaker at the recent 4th Global Soil Security Conference from June 26-29, 2023 that was held in Seoul, South Korea. Hosted by the Korean Society of Soil Science and Fertilizers, the conference brought together over 250 attendees from 33 countries to discuss issues surrounding Soil Security.
“I was thrilled to be asked to speak at this global conference!” said Kruszel. “Thanks to the financial support of OSCIA and a few other organizations, I was able to bring a producer’s voice to this very scientific focused conference.” Kruszel was one of only two Canadian speakers at the conference, the other being Dr. Scott Chang from the University of Alberta. He was also one of the only producers who spoke at the conference. Kruszel’s presentation was entitled “An Agricultural Producer’s Perspectives on Soil Security: Bridging the Gaps between Research and Implementation”.
In his presentation, Kruszel highlighted the need for greater collaboration amongst scientists, policy makers and farmers and highlighted the success of New Horizons, Ontario’s Agricultural Soil Health and Conservation Strategy which was truly a collaborative effort. He also explained to the mostly scientific crowd how to reach out to farmers and their organizations as well as why now is a great time to do so since farmer interest in soils has never been greater. His talk was very well received by attendees and several questions were forthcoming afterwards.
Conference speakers brought attention to the many facets of Soil Security from around the world. Several speakers spoke about carbon sequestration and the potential role soils have to play in helping to mitigate climate change in various locations around the globe. Other interesting topics included presentations on public policy initiatives helping to secure our soils, soil remediation in urban landscapes, efforts to better understand climate change impacts on soil security as well as a fascinating talk by Dr. Ismail Cakmak from Sabanci University in Turkey who highlighted some very strong links between human nutrition and fertility of the soil.
The conference had a mix of social activities dispersed amongst the conference sessions. It was kicked off by a great welcome reception where attendees could mix and mingle and get to know one another before launching into the presentations. A highlight of the social activities was the Gala Dinner on Wednesday evening featuring excellent food along with a performance by traditional Korean musicians and singers.
Following the conclusion of the conference, Kruszel took part in an organized tour of the De-militarized Zone (DMZ), the area separating North and South Korea where the history of the Korean War and the formation of the DMZ were explained. A visit to a tunnel dug under the border by the North Koreans that penetrated several hundred meters into South Korea was a highlight of the tour along with the authentic Korean cuisine.
Kruszel was later invited to give a second presentation a few days after the conference, this time at the headquarters of the Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in Jeonju, Korea where he spoke about soil mapping efforts in Ontario to members of the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences.