The Soil Health Specialist is responsible for providing scientific and technical leadership in the collection, management, analysis, interpretation, and communication of soil health data across OSCIA's applied research portfolio. The incumbent serves as OSCIA's technical lead for soil health monitoring and assessment activities within the On-Farm Applied Research and Monitoring (ONFARM) Program and provides specialized expertise to Living Lab Ontario and other research initiatives involving soil health, agronomic performance, environmental sustainability, and climate resilience.

The position supports the development and evaluation of Best Management Practices (BMPs) that improve soil function, productivity, environmental outcomes, and long-term farm sustainability. Working collaboratively with researchers, government agencies, academic institutions, industry partners, producer organizations, and farmers, the Soil Health Specialist transforms complex datasets into meaningful scientific insights and practical recommendations that support farmer decision-making, program development, policy advancement, and knowledge transfer activities.

The incumbent is responsible for developing and maintaining soil health data governance frameworks, ensuring scientific rigor in data collection and analysis, supporting research publications, and advancing Ontario's capacity to monitor and evaluate soil health outcomes through applied agricultural research.

Key Responsibilities & Duties:

Soil Health Research and Technical Leadership

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- Provide technical leadership for soil health monitoring, assessment, and interpretation activities within ONFARM and other OSCIA research initiatives.

- Support the design, implementation,



and evaluation of applied research projects focused on soil health improvement, regenerative agriculture, climate resilience, and environmental stewardship.

- Contribute scientific expertise to research planning, proposal development, experimental design, and performance measurement frameworks.

- Provide technical guidance related to soil organic carbon, aggregate stability, soil biology, nutrient cycling, infiltration, compaction, soil structure, microbial activity, soil respiration, and other indicators of soil function.

- Support development of standardized soil health assessment methodologies and monitoring protocols across OSCIA research programs.

- Identify emerging soil health research priorities and opportunities that support Ontario agriculture and environmental sustainability goals.

Soil Health Monitoring Framework Development

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- Lead the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of soil health monitoring, assessment, and reporting frameworks across OSCIA research initiatives.

- Establish and maintain standardized approaches for soil health data collection, quality assurance, governance, analysis, interpretation, and reporting.

- Support the identification and validation of meaningful soil health indicators that support farmer decision-making, BMP evaluation, and program performance measurement.





- Develop methodologies for interpreting soil health outcomes across varying soil types, production systems, climatic conditions, and geographic regions.

- Collaborate with government, academic, and industry partners to advance soil health monitoring capacity and consistency across Ontario.

- Support the integration of soil health indicators into broader environmental and sustainability performance frameworks.

Data Management, Analysis and Interpretation

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- Lead the collection, organization, validation, quality control, and management of soil health datasets from ONFARM trial sites and other OSCIA research projects.

- Develop and maintain analysis-ready datasets through implementation of rigorous data quality assurance and quality control procedures.

- Integrate soil health, agronomic, management, environmental, weather, and economic datasets to support comprehensive research analyses.

- Apply advanced statistical and data science approaches to evaluate soil health trends and quantify the impacts of BMP adoption on soil function, productivity, environmental outcomes, and system resilience.

- Analyze relationships between management practices and soil health outcomes across diverse production systems and environmental conditions.

- Develop predictive and comparative analyses to identify BMP effectiveness across regions, soil types, and agricultural production systems.

- Create data visualizations, dashboards, technical summaries, and reporting tools that support interpretation and communication of research findings.

- Support the development of long-term datasets that enable trend ana

📌 Soil Health Specialist (Canada)
🏢 Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association's
📍 Canada