MONSOL

MONSOL toolkit 

Discover practices that promote soil health and fertility while reducing your impact on watercourses. This toolkit brings together:

  • Practices to enhance soil quality
  • Resources and references to deepen your knowledge
  • Videos from farmers sharing their experiences and successes

Cultivation techniques

Cultivation techniques 

Crops planted between main harvests to protect the soil and improve its fertility

Advantages:

  • Reduced soil loss
  • Better load-bearing capacity and porosity
  • Increased organic matter and biodiversity
  • Mineral intake
  • Weed control
  • Potential decompaction effect
  • Reduced costs (fertilizers, pesticides)

Learn more (resource in French)

By practicing direct seeding, you leave a maximum amount of crop residue on the soil, providing several benefits:

  • Reduced erosion
  • Improvement in soil structure and biological activity
  • Better load-bearing capacity and reduced compaction
  • Time savings
  • Reduced costs associated with machinery

Learn more (resource in French)

Planting winter cereals helps protect the soil and enrich its structure.

Advantages:

  • Reduced soil loss
  • Competition with weeds
  • Distribution of tasks (autumn sowing, early harvest)
  • Root system conducive to improved soil structure
  • Easy integration of intercrops
  • Reduced risk of fusarium wilt compared to spring cereals

Learn more (resource in French)

Crop used to loosen compacted soil thanks to its deep root system

Advantages:

  • Breaks up compacted layers and improves soil aeration
  • Promotes root growth and access to water and nutrients
  • Improves drainage and overall soil structure
  • Stimulates biological activity

Complementary measures to limit compaction:

  • Working the soil only in dry conditions
  • Limiting the number of passages by machinery
  • Using suitable and properly inflated tires
  • Maintaining a high level of organic matter

Sorghum can be an effective option for improving soil structure, but it must be integrated into a comprehensive strategy tailored to your soil conditions and crop rotation.

Learn more (resource in French)

Agroforestry techniques 

Vegetation along waterways to limit erosion and protect water

Advantages:

  • Reduced soil loss
  • Improved yields due to the windbreak effect
  • Reduced watercourses maintenance costs
  • Improved water quality
  • Creation of habitats for wildlife and pollinators

 Learn more (resource in French)

Rows of trees or shrubs that reduce wind erosion and protect crops

Advantages:

  • Reduced wind erosion
  • Less overuse of pesticides
  • Decreased energy consumption
  • Improved air quality
  • Creation of wildlife habitats

 Learn more (resource in French)

Combination of crops and trees in the same field to improve resilience.

Advantages:

  • Reduced erosion
  • Improved soil structure and fertility
  • Increased biodiversity
  • Creation of favourable microclimates
  • Possible diversification of income

Learn more (resource in French)

Pairing of trees and pastures where livestock graze under trees
Advantages:

  • Shade and protection for animals
  • Balanced distribution of grazing land
  • Improved soil structure through root systems
  • Increased biodiversity
  • Carbon sequestration potential

Engineering techniques 

Canals stabilized by grass to direct water and limit erosion

Advantages:

  • Limitation of soil erosion
  • Improved drainage
  • Controlled flow toward a stabilized point
  • Reduced sediment in watercourses

 Learn more (resource in French)

Stone structures to safely convey runoff water while protecting shorelines

Advantages:

  • Safe water drainage
  • Bank stabilization
  • Erosion correction in ravines or confluences

 Learn more (resource in French)

Soil health assessment

A soil health assessment helps identify factors limiting yields and guides effective interventions.

An assessment generally includes:

  • A portrait and analysis of the plots: cultivation practices, soil profiles, drainage, erosion, yield data.
  • Diagnosis: identification of problems and appropriate recommendations.

This service is offered by agri-environment advisors, who are in the best position to analyze your soil and guide you toward appropriate practices. Financial assistance from the MAPAQ, accessible via the Réseau Agriconseils, can usually support this approach.