Healthy soils are fundamental to the sustainability of the grazing industries in Australia. Healthy soils drive higher pasture productivity and create environmental benefits through better use of water and nutrients. Healthy soils also reduce water run-off, erosion and deep drainage.
Well managed soils can also sequester large volumes of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which can improve soil-water capacity, nutrient retention and pasture productivity.
Threats to soil health
Australia's livestock producers realise that without effective soil and groundcover management, that the long term sustainability of their business is at risk. The main threats to the condition of soil include:
- Soil loss - intense rainfall, sloping topography and dispersive surface soils can create a high risk of soil loss through water erosion on many land types. Wind erosion can also occur on lighter soils. Maintaining adequate groundcover can reduce these losses
- Soil fertility - poor grazing management can result in a decline in soil fertility on many land types
- Dryland salinity - many soils have high inherent subsoil salt loads and replacement of native vegetation with pastures can increase deep drainage on many land types. This creates a relatively high potential risk of dryland salinity. Good management can reduce the incidence and extent of deep drainage to minimise the potential risk of dryland salinity.
- Surface water quality - off-site movement of soil (as well as pesticides and salts) in run-off water can reduce the quality of surface water
- Soil compaction - poor pasture management (eg overgrazing) can cause soil compaction, reducing the soil's capacity to retain carbon and absorb water
- Soil carbon - soil can be a source and a sink of greenhouse gases. Emissions typically occur after tree clearing but some land management practices (eg pasture improvement) can increase soil carbon content.
Soil care in action
The industry, through Meat & Livestock Australia supports many collaborative research efforts to maintain healthy soils that will support sustainable grazing practices. These include:
- Investing in long-term research programs that address soil erosion, dryland salinity and soil acidification, such as the Grain & Graze program and the EverGraze partnership
- Providing access to a substantial body of research generated during the collaborative Sustainable Grazing on Saline Lands (SGSL) initiative through the Saltland Genie
- Investing in strategic research, such as plant DNA technologies, crucial for continued innovation in the grazing industries; to improve pest resistance and create more drought tolerant pasture species for the changing Australian climate
- Developing soil research tools to help accelerate research on the impact of soil biological constraints (eg soil-borne diseases, fungi and nematodes) in different pasture management systems. Eventually these tools may be developed as soil health diagnostic tests for farmers and advisors
- Developing training courses through the EdgeNetworks for farmers that offer a 'whole of pasture' approach for weed control that also looks after the soil
- Identifying and addressing areas of farmland at risk of erosion, sediment and nutrient transport in the Burdekin River catchment to manage the water quality and health of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem
- Assisting farmers identify and reduce the risk of soil nutrient loss when applying phosphorus and nitrogen fertilisers, through the online Farm Nutrient Loss Index and user manual, which may reduce farm emissions of nitrous oxide
- Demonstrating how farmers can stem rising water tables by planting deep-rooted improved perennial pasture species, such as saltbush, warm-season grasses and legumes