Dry conditions this spring along with strong winds have combined to create several dust storms over the past few weeks.

Cliff Greenfield, manager for the Pembina Valley Conservation District, says no one likes to see all that valuable topsoil blown around because it takes hundreds of years to build up.

Greenfield says there are a number of factors at play when we see soil being blown around like that.

"We've seen some changes to agricultural production where we have seen new crops come in, some lower residue crops and techniques such as rolling that are impacting this wind erosion. Certain crop rotations and combinations kind of leave the soil vulnerable and that's why we wish there were more shelterbelts out there. We're seeing shelterbelts vanishing as farm machinery gets bigger, making it hard to find a place for those windbreaks."

A dry fall last year, a winter with minimal snowfall and a dry spring means producers are going to need some rain soon.

"We haven't had a real wet period for a while and groundwater supplies are shrinking a little bit too."

And while no one likes to see valuable topsoil being blown around, it's not always as bad as it appears, according to Greenfield.

"According to some research done at the University of Manitoba, they feel it's not a very significant problem. This winter we saw a lot of this black snow, but if you actually went out and measured it, it's not a significant quantity. There are days, however, when the sky blackens and it harkens back to the 1930s, so there is definitely some soil moving."

Greenfield added, while shelterbelts are on the decline, an increasing number of producers are using farming methods that help conserve soil through things like conservation tillage, multi-cropping and keeping some crop residue on the land after harvesting.