Dirt

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   By Cow Man (Murray Harris, Guest Blogger)

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The Blue Jays’ runner slides into second head first before popping up with a clean steal. Not that clean, as from chest to knees he is caked in dirt. A manufactured clay, sand compound DuraEdge, from Slippery Rock Pennsylvania. Tariff rate 0%. (Here)

Dead dirt, no microorganisms, no organic matter dirt, that couldn’t sustain a dandelion. 2,000 lbs for $500 USD.

Live top soil over 1 billion microorganisms per teaspoon sells for $35 USD for 2,000 lbs. (Here)

DuraEdge is engineered so it won’t stick to baseball cleats, while the less expensive dirt has been the Wet Nurse to civilizations, since this speck of dirt, Earth, was created.

Many have witnessed the trained seal acts of the hooting back benchers in Parliament cheering on the empty sound bytes emitted from the front rows. Few MPs are successful at finessing positive changes for Canadians.

One being the former Halton, cowboy boot wearing, biker MP, who shipped the Vancouver Board of Trade “debt clock” to the PC Leadership campaign warning of the damage of accumulating deficits. Garth got dumped by his Party leader, for representing voters rather than the Party dogma; but not before planting the seeds in fertile dirt, that blossomed into the 2008 TFSA Legislation.

Dirt’s saviour is Senator Rob Black who sponsored, “Bill S-230 National Strategy for Soil Protection.” This requires that dirt be identified as a strategic resource and a Ministry of Agriculture plan put in place to improve soil health Nationally. (Here)

What this should mean is an increase in organic content rather than depleting it; as we have been doing with the eradication of animal husbandry. Remember cows are killing the planet? Life is about choices, more methane or depleted dirt productivity.

To verify this, one only needs to reference crop production by county in Ontario. Those counties with the lowest yields are those with the lowest livestock density per acre. Halton and York farm lands are in most part held by speculators who provide short term rentals anticipating speculative gains. No animal husbandry, less retention of organic dirt content, lower productivity.

To make Bill S-230 effective, changes to Provincial Assessment Acts are needed. Dirt with higher organic contents should be taxed at a lower rate encouraging the farmer to increase organic matter rather than mining the soil. Charge higher property taxes for degrading an identified National resource and awarding its improvement, with lower taxes.

Counter balancing real dirt protection is Dalton McGuinty’s Greenbelt. Promoted as protecting farmland and containing urban sprawl, it has proven to do the opposite.

Greaterfool.ca has schooled us for years that family’s want detached homes with their own dirt. If families cannot get their patch of dirt inside the Greenbelt they will leapfrog over the Greenbelt and build on the more fertile lands in Wellington, Dufferin, Waterloo, Simcoe, and Northumberland Counties. This increases commute times, and carbon footprint, while, reducing family time.

No matter if a farm is lost to housing in the Greenbelt or outside of the Greenbelt, it is an equal loss never to be returned. Growth serves to exterminate dirt.

Within the 2 million acre Greenbelt is legislated the Natural Heritage Designation. 721,000 acres of dirt that were originally in an agriculturally zoned use, now expropriated by designation, without compensation, having a cryogenic effect on agriculture.

The Greenbelt only relocates sprawl, and has drastically reduced agricultural use zoned acreage. Ontario’s Provincial Planning Statement changes these lands from “long term agricultural productivity” to “long term ecological function”. (Here)

It would be more appropriate to title The “Greenbelt Act” as “The Protecting the View Act.” Now Ontario is building Hwy 413 to expedite transit from one side of the Greenbelt to the other. More lost dirt.

Global conflicts deemed geopolitical seem coincidentally to be about dirt. West Bank settlements, ownership change for olive groves. Gaza bombed to the Stone Age for another Orange Julius beach front hotel? Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to ward off EU expansion?

Farms in Canada have on averaged4 INCHES of top soil dirt. Ukraine’s top soil dirt is over 6 FEET deep. There is no Global region of higher quality arable land than in Ukraine. Is Putin actually after the dirt? (Here)

Since the demise of Buffalo herds, Alberta’s dirt has required commercial fertilizers. T2’s decree of drastically reducing commercial fertilizer use to counter Climate Change, shows the depth of his ignorance of policy impacts on rural Canada. When hurt evolves into rage, no one benefits. (Here)

What is dirt worth? Assignment! Compare the total return of Gold Trust, PHYS, from 2010 to 2025 with the total return of the TSX 60. Now chart that against the price of Ontario, or Canadian, farmland over the same period. Surprise!

Beth Dutton’s warning to her father in the “Yellowstone” series sums it up perfectly. “They want the land, Dad. That is all you need to understand”. (Here)

It is always about the dirt.

About the Blogger: Murray Harris (who posts as Cow man) is a 40-year dairy farmer having developed his Burnview Holstein herd to one of Canada’s highest production herds. Community activist and Charter Member of Burlington’s Sustainable Development Committee, he has held positions on several Agricultural Committees and Conservation Halton. Married to his Trophy wife of 52 years, he’s a father of two, grandfather of three and continues to serve the community as a school bus driver.

Source: https://www.greaterfool.ca/2026/11/06/dirt/