The video above was taken by Manitoba Pulse & Soybean (MPSG) technician, Ian Kirby, on May 14, 2026 in the Red River Valley. Wind speeds across the province on May 14 ranged from 70 to 120 km/ hour.
Chris Forsythe, our MPSG On Farm Network agronomist, saw lots of blowing soil on Thursday and Friday (May 14 to 15, 2026) especially around Homewood, Carman, and Culross. He also saw lots of soiling bellowing all the way out to Souris on his Thursday road trip during the high winds.
Chris’ general observations were fields that were tilled “black” with little residue or that had recently been seeded and rolled flat were blowing more than fields with even a little residue or that had some furrows.
Near Culross, Chris stopped and collected a topsoil sample (0 to 6″) from soil that had blown into ditch (see photo below) and another sample from the field. No random sampling or multiple cores were taken because it was too windy! So just one spot each.
Chris sent the soil samples to Agvise to be analyzed and confirmed his hypothesis that nutrient concentration was similar between the two. In fact, the ‘’ditch’’ sample had a higher total soil nutrient concentration of N, K, and S. Completely understandable because the soil in the ditch was literally topsoil from the field.
Here is some napkin math, using arbitrary fertilizer prices (MB AG 2026 cost of production spreadsheet) of:
46-0-0 = $830/ MT
11-52-0 = $1375/ MT
0-0-60 = $660/ MT
21-0-0-24 = $600 / MT
The value (just attributed to its N, P, K and S based on soil test) of that top soil now sitting in the ditch would approximately be $1,110.18/ acre
How much would 7.8% of organic matter be worth? Personally, I think it’s priceless!
But conservatively, that 7.8% could give 5 lbs N/ac per % organic matter, so round it up to 40 lbs N/ acre in one year.
That would be an additional $32.75/acre of value.
$1143/ acre???……just sitting in the ditch.
The true cost of soil erosion long term, due to the loss of that valuable top soil is infinitely higher!