Soil Extension

Background

One-on-One farmer sessions

The project is building capacity within the agricultural community to engage with and improve understanding soil health and soil function.

Through one-on-one sessions with farmers and enterprises, the Soils Extension Program addresses areas of interest and key issues for individual landholders to provide a more in-depth knowledge of soil health. This ranges from assistance with soil testing and helping farmers learn more about soil testing processes and the significant information this simple action can provide to farm management, through to deeper understanding of singular soil health issues or industry developments.

Soil Health Workshops and field days

The Soil Extension Program works in collaboration with farmers and grower groups to deliver soil health workshops and field days. These are co-designed with the community to deliver information which is appropriate to the target region, addressing key challenges and advancements identified by the farmers.

The aim of these events is to provide farmers with the tools to sustainably manage soil health which aims to increase production or enterprise viability and the sustainability of soil as a natural asset. Topics include soil carbon, soil biology, farm management techniques and basic soil health understanding and measuring.

Decision Support Systems

The program has provided NRM South the opportunity to further understand and address some of the key limitations in knowledge and decision support within the agricultural community. Through consultation with agricultural professionals and land owners/managers, the Soils Extension Program facilitated the development and updates of three decision support tools in collaboration with a number of experts within Tasmanian agriculture. These tools are set to be released June 2023.

• • • Soil Test Interpretation Guide for Dryland Pastures in Tasmania – Naomi Palombi & Doris Blaesing (RMCG) (booklet and digital)
      • Providing farmers and agronomists with practical information about soil fertility testing, and to help understand chemical soil analysis data.
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    • Nutrient Management for Farming in Tasmania – Bill Cotching (book and digital)
      • This book delves into a deeper understanding of soil health and how to ensure soils are fit for purpose, in particularly for productive agriculture in Tasmania.
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    • Land Drainage for Farming in Tasmania – Bill Cotching and Samantha Gadsby (RMCG) (book and digital)
      • Guidelines addressing agricultural drainage of waterlogged soils and the removal of excess surface or ground water from the land by man-made surface or sub-surface drains to improve crop growth and land access as well as improve soil health. The guide addresses some of the environmental health mitigation measures needed to successfully implement drainage which is not only sustainable for agricultural production but also minimises impacts of nutrient transfer and changes in hydrology off farm.