The Challenge
Compared to other countries and its overall land mass, Australia has a relatively small amount of productive, arable land. Many of our soils are ancient and prone to erosion, structural decline, sodicity and acidity.
The net benefits to Australian farmers treating soil sodicity and acidity, could be more than $11 billion. It is therefore comforting to know that remarkable and rapid improvement in soil structure, organic content and nutrient performance is possible through changed management practices.
And, it is for this reason, that the Healthy Soils for Sustainable Farms programme is so critical.
Healthy Soils:
- Optimise farm management, meaning greater cost-effectiveness
- Soils add value to property
- Benefit Australia's food and fibre exports
- Soils boost our national environmental credibility
The Programme
The Healthy Soils for sustainable Farms Programme is a wide-ranging, $5 million programme that covers a variety of agricultural sectors across almost all the states of Australia.
The current range of agricultural industries involved in the Healthy Soils for Sustainable Farms Programme includes:
- Grain and crops
- Cotton
- Sheep and wool
- Sugar
- Vegetables
- Organics
The scale of the projects supported ranges from multi-state projects to catchment-focused initiatives.
Some projects are taking highly sophisticated, multi-factored approaches. Others are delivering simple, kick-the-earth guides. All have a valid role in ensuring the ongoing productivity of Australia's precious soil heritage.
We aim to deliver adoption projects based on research, knowledge management, trial and demonstration sites and strategic projects, to contribute to the programme's outcomes and provide context for the Healthy Soils for Sustainable Farms Programme.
Adoption projects include:
- Demonstrated agricultural management options based on local scale healthy soil processes
- Efficient systems for monitoring soil from paddock level to the surrounding catchment level
- Tools to help producers measure, record, monitor and adaptively manage the health of their soils
- Opportunities for learning about soils and their management
Strategic projects include:
- A national soil management learning program
- A national soil symposium
- A knowledge base
For detailed information about Healthy Soils for Sustainable Farms research see the Projects section
