Soil Health Monitoring - Landcare Research · 2018-02-22 · Soil Health Monitoring Today vs...
Transcript of Soil Health Monitoring - Landcare Research · 2018-02-22 · Soil Health Monitoring Today vs...
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Soil Health Monitoring
Today vs Tomorrow: Defining a More
Comprehensive View of Soil Health
Bryan Stevenson (and a host of others)
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“The continued capacity of the soil
to function as a vital living
ecosystem that sustains plants,
animals and humans”
What is Soil Health?
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• organic carbon
• pH
• water-stable aggregation
• crop yield
• texture
• Penetration resistance
• cation exchange capacity
• electrical conductivity
• nitrogen
• Phosphorus
• potassium
How do we measure it?
• carbon mineralization
• nitrogen mineralization
• erosion rating
• base saturation
• bulk density
• available water holding capacity
• infiltration rate
• micronutrients
Macroporosity
Contaminants
[ http://soilhealthinstitute.org/tier-1-indicators-soil-health/ ]
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Where do we go from here…
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• Industry realising they must be on board…
• Several major research initiatives:
− CRC for High Performing Soils
− US Soil Health Institute (NGO) / USDA Initiatives
− Trace elements in NZ (proposed MBIE)
− Soil Health MBIE
• Integrating Research
Opportunities:
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Fonterra – Global Dairy Sustainability Framework
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Objectives of Soil Health Monitoring
Objective Focus Attributes of Programme
SoE monitoring/ reporting
Quantitative assessment with
accurate and measurable
indicators
Broad coverage of all land uses
Considers a range of factors -production and environment
Regional/National Scale
Formalised management tools
Quantitative measurements of
specific land management
practices on soil health
Can be more targeted, but is often limited in application for specific land
management comparisons (e.g. conventional tillage vs no till practices)
Can be more focused on production values e.g. yield
Farm Scale
Guidelines to help explain basic concepts of soil health
(e.g. Visual Soil Assessment)
Often informal to provide
landowners with a simple, no-
or low-cost method to assess
soil properties under different
conditions on their property
Qualitative or semi-quantitative, but generally not suggested when quantitative
assessment needed
Limited range of indicators
Baseline sampling of soil resource
Geochemical sampling for trace
element excess or deficiency Broad coverage of managed land use areas
Often grid based sampling
Often related to parent material
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Major Research Initiatives…
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• Theme 2: Soil Performance Metrics
• Theme 3: Increasing Soil Fertility and Function
• Theme 4: Soil Management Solutions
CRC – High Performing Soils
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• Reviewing current and new indicators
• Integration with in situ sensor technologies
• Data management and Apps for real-time reporting of soil performance
• Allophanic Soils as model for a high performing soil?
CRC Theme 2 – Soil Performance Metrics
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The role of trace elements (TE) in
ecosystem health and resilience: future-
proofing sustainable land management
• Biological indicators
• Soil community resilience – native to
legacy contaminated sites
• Soil/plant root structure
• Movement of TE and impact in selected
aquatic ecosystems
• Exploring mauri and mana of whenua
and trace elements and mahinga kai
The role of trace elements (MBIE proposal-Cavanagh)
Outcomes
Identify ecological
limits for TE
Enable risk-based
management of TE and
kaitiakitanga
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1. Soil Resilience (testing pedogenic thresholds)
2. Develop Māori Soil Health concepts – (Garth Harmsworth and Māori researchers)
3. Develop an Integrated Soil Health Framework
Soil Health MBIE Research Aims:
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• Sampling land use chronosequences/paired sites to determine long term change in
soil properties (“inherent” as well as dynamic)
• Sampling across regions and soil orders
• Full profile sampling (not just topsoil)
• Land management pressures include: irrigation, grazing, cultivation, drainage…
Soil Resilience
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Aligned sampling from irrigation SLMACC
Pumice
Brown
Pallic
Allophanic
Brown
Pallic
Recent
Brown
Recent
Brown
Pallic
Recent
Gley
Semi-Arid
Courtesy of Paul Mudge
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Kaupapa Māori Research – Relevant frameworks
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Integrating Research…
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Soil Horizons - Issue 26, October 2017
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Development of an Integrated Soil Health Framework
Integrating new knowledge
into the existing monitoring
programme…