Senator Sparrow devoted his life to the
service of his country and to the challenges of agriculture. His
work on soil sustainability was groundbreaking and we intend to carry
it forward to honour another Great Canadian and friend of my campaign
as part of the 'Sustainability in all things' Program.
We are honoured that Sen. Sparrow
consented to us using his name and career work as part of our plan
for a better Canada in the future.
From The Battlefords News-Optimist
During the 1980s Sparrow concentrated his efforts on a senate committee report on soil conservation. Soil at Risk became a seminal work, with such impact as to literally change the way people farm on the prairies and around the world. There used to be 45 per cent of crop land in summer fallow each year, now that number is five per cent, he notes.
"The issue was so serious, I would take ten years of my life to do this," he recalls.
The report, which at 50,000 copies has had a print run ten times greater than the threshold for a Canadian bestseller, is still being requested. Recently, another 400 were sent to Australia.
His North Battleford office, located
close by to KFC, is festooned with accolades for that work. The short
list of the honours include an honorary doctorate from McGill
University, a medal from the United Nations for conservation,
citations for various halls of fame and the H.R. MacMillan Laureate.
That final honour, given to Sparrow in 1989, is awarded to the
Canadian who has given the greatest contribution to Canadian
agriculture in the past five years. It is awarded only twice a
decade.
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