In 2004, the provincial government of Ontario passed legislation that imposed a moratorium on urban development of agricultural land within a “Greenbelt” boundary.  This legislation, which became known as the Greenbelt legislation, has a direct effect on over 1.8 million acres of land located near one of the larger metropolitan areas in North America: the Greater Toronto Area.  We use a hedonic model to examine 7760 farmland sales and we find evidence that the Greenbelt legislation influenced farmland property prices; the effect depends on the proximity of the farmland to the Greater Toronto Area.

planting and termination, CC species, and cropping system, duration of the experiment), quantity and quality of CC residues, and the climatic conditions 15. Therefore, assessment of SOC storage in response to CC treatments is needed for various production systems. Cover crop research has evaluated CC effects on soil quality 13-14,16-17 and crop production 16,18-22. Long-term studies are needed to assess the potential of CCs to sequester C 4,23-25 and have primarily focused on evaluating the amount of soil C sequestered with CCs than control 26-28 rather than the change in SOC stock 29. Consistent with aforementioned long-term studies, we evaluated the differences in surface SOC storage with and without CCs in our experiment. Soil organic C represents a stable pool of soil C, which is rarely impacted by the seasonal variation due to climatic conditions 30. It takes several years (≥ 6-years) to detect changes in SOC stocks due to CCs 23,29 and therefore, long-term studies are needed to provide a quantitative evidence about CC effects on SOC storage. The results from the long-term trials assist growers in making improved decisions about selecting appropriate CCs for enhancing agroecosystem services, primary productivity and profit margins. Evidence in the literature regarding the impacts of CCs on crop yields is inconclusive, as there is considerable variability in results across studies. For example, while some studies have found that CCs positively affect subsequent crop yields 31,32 , other studies have found no significant effect 33,34 or even decreased yields 35,36. There is even less evidence regarding impacts of CCs on profit margins. For example, Schomberg et al. 37 reported that returns for cotton in the southern USA were higher with winter CCs, while Flower et al. 38 observed lower profit margins with CCs in a cereal rotation in Australia. Due to the lack of studies discussing CC impacts on profit margins, two recent studies have highlighted the need for additional research on the long-term economic returns from CCs 23,39. The objectives of this study were to (i) evaluate the cumulative effects of CC on soil C sequestration, primary productivity, and profit margins, and (ii) determine if current and projected C prices may be an effective strategy for incentivising the quantity of soil C sequestered by CCs. To meet these objectives, a long-term CC experiment located at Ridgetown, Ontario Canada, established in 2007 and repeated at an adjacent site in 2008 was utilized 13-14,18-20,40. Previously in this experiment, CC treatment effects on N fertility, crop productivity, and soil quality have indicated enhancements with CCs compared to the no cover crop control (no-CC) 13-14,18-20,40. The Ridgetown experiment is one of the very few longest running CC trials making direct comparisons among CCs in North America. This provides a unique opportunity to advance our understanding of the CC-induced effects on soil C storage across different CC treatments. In addition, by evaluating the economics of CCing combined wit...

The effectiveness of cover crops as an alternative weed control strategy should be assessed as the demand for food and fiber grown under sustainable agricultural practices increases. This study assessed the effect of fall cover crops on weed populations in the fall and spring prior to sweet corn planting and during sweet corn growth. The experiment was a split-plot design in a pea cover-cover crop-sweet corn rotation with fall cover crop type as the main plot factor and presence or absence of weeds in the sweet corn as the split-plot factor. The cover crop treatments were a control with no cover crop (no-cover), oat, cereal rye (rye), oilseed radish (OSR), and oilseed radish with rye (OSR+rye). In the fall, at Ridgetown, weed biomass in the OSR treatments was 29 and 59 g m 22 lower than in the no-cover and the cereal treatments, respectively. In the spring, OSR+rye and rye reduced weed biomass, density, and richness below the levels observed in the control at Bothwell. At Ridgetown in the spring, cover crops had no effect on weed populations. During the sweet corn season, weed populations and sweet corn yields were generally unaffected by the cover crops, provided OSR did not set viable seed. All cover crop treatments were as profitable as or more profitable than the no-cover treatment. At Bothwell profit margins were highest for oat at almost Can$600 ha 21 higher than the no-cover treatment. At Ridgetown, compared with the no-cover treatment, OSR and OSR+rye profit margins were between Can$1,250 and Can$1,350 ha 21 and between Can$682 and Can$835 ha 21 , respectively. Therefore, provided that OSR does not set viable seed, the cover crops tested are feasible and profitable options to include in sweet corn production and provide weed-suppression benefits. Nomenclature: Cereal rye, Secale cereale L.; oat, Avena sativa L.; oilseed radish, Raphanus sativus L. var. oleoferus Metzg. Stokes; pea, Pisum sativum L.; sweet corn, Zea mays L. Key words: Catch crops, vegetable production, profit margins, cost-benefit analysis, species richness, Simpson's index.La efectividad de los cultivos de cobertura como una estrategia alternativa para el control de malezas debe ser evaluada, en vista del incremento en la demanda de alimentos y fibras cultivadas bajo prácticas agrícolas sustentables. Este estudio evaluó el efecto de cultivos de cobertura de otoño en las poblaciones de maleza en la misma estación, en la primavera anterior a la siembra y durante el crecimiento del maíz dulce. El diseño del experimento fue de parcela divida con la rotación de chícharo-cultivo de cobertura-maíz dulce, con el tipo de cultivo de cobertura de otoño como factor principal de la parcela y con la presencia o ausencia de malezas en el maíz dulce como el factor de la parcela dividida. Los tratamientos de cultivos de cobertura fueron: un testigo sin cultivo de cobertura, avena, centeno, rábano oleaginoso, y rábano oleaginoso + centeno. En Ridgetown, durante el otoño, la biomasa de la maleza con los tratamientos de rábano oleaginoso fue 29 y 59 g m-2 m...

Much of cover crop research to date focuses on key indicators of impact without considering the implications over multiple years, in the absence of a systems-based approach. To evaluate the effect of three years of autumn cover crops on subsequent processing tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) production in 2010 and 2011, a field split-split-plot factorial design trial with effects of cover crop type, urea ammonium nitrate fertilizer rate (0 or 140 kg N ha -1 preplant broadcast incorporated) and tomato cultivar (early vs. late) was conducted. The main plot factor, cover crop, included a no cover crop control, oat (Avena sativa L.), winter cereal rye (hereafter referred to as rye) (Secale cereale L.), oilseed radish (OSR) (Raphanus sativus L. var. oleiferus Metzg Stokes), and mix of OSR and rye (OSR + rye) treatments. Cover crop biomass of 0.5 to 2.8 and 1.7 to 3.1 Mg ha -1 was attained in early Oct. and the following early May, respectively. In general, OSR increased soil mineral N during cover crop growth and into the succeeding summer tomato growing season, while the remaining cover crops did not differ from the no cover crop control. The lack of a cover crop by N rate interaction in soil and plant N analyses at harvest suggests that growers may not need to modify N fertilizer rates to tomatoes based on cover crop type. Processing tomato fruit quality at harvest (rots, insect or disease damage, Agtron colour, pH, or natural tomato soluble solids (NTSS)) was not affected by cover crop type. In both years, marketable yield in the no cover crop treatment was lower or not statistically different than all planted cover crops. Partial profit margins over both years were 1320 $ ha -1 higher with OSR and $960 higher with oat compared to the no cover crop control. Thus, results from a systems-based approach suggest that the cover crops tested had no observed negative impact on processing tomato production and have the potential to increase marketable yield and profit margins.

No abstract