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Events

Soil CRC Webinars

We invite you to join our webinars. They will cover a wide range of topics focussing on the research activity in the Soil CRC. Each webinar is free and there will be plenty of time for questions after the presentation.

If you missed one of our webinars, you can watch them here.

Upcoming Webinars

Evaluating alternative rhizobial carriers for improving soil performance

The presentation will focus on the assessment of locally available and low-cost organic, inorganic and biochar materials as promising alternative microbial carriers to peat for invention and commercialisation of novel rhizobium inoculants. More than 100 types of these materials have been analysed for the physico-chemical properties (e.g., surface properties and moisture retention moisture) and assessed for their suitability as rhizobial carriers.

Professor Chenrong Chen from Griffith University will present this webinar. Chen leads the Soil CRC project Evaluating alternative rhizobial carriers.

Date: Tuesday 11 August 11am – 11:45am

Developing an enose for smelling soil

Find out about the connection between how we smell coffee and soil health. The Smelling soil project is developing an enose as an affordable device to provide useful and useable information to growers to help them monitor their soil.

This webinar is presented by Soil CRC Project Leader Dr Shane Powell from the University of Tasmania and Dr Robert Hardy from the University of Tasmania.

Date: Tuesday 25 August 11am – 11:45am

Enhancing the representation of soil constraints in decision support systems to facilitate integrated soil management

This webinar is presented by Soil CRC Project Leader Dr Keith Pembleton, and Chloe Lai University of Southern Queensland (USQ). They will present on the different modelling approaches they used to improve the representation of soil constraints. These include phosphorus fertility, weeds and variable-rate application of gypsum to ameliorate sodicity in various decision support systems tools to provide better reliability of paddock-scale predictions and facilitate integrated and precision soil management. Dr Keith Pembleton leads the project Improving decision support systems.

Date: Thursday 10 September 11am – 11:45am

Caring for the Land: Farm care networks and adoptability of soil improvement techniques and practices

Drawing on qualitative social data collected from seven mixed farming regions from across Australia, this presentation uses the theoretical lens of ‘care’ to explore different strategies for enhancing the adoptability of soil improvement practices. These include the (a) ‘hardening’ of local farming knowledge through the development of regional metrics for ‘good’ soil management; (b) ‘softening’ of scientific knowledge through using farming systems groups as knowledge brokers between soil scientists and farmers; and (c) facilitating mutual adjustment between farming and scientific ways of knowing through regional communities of practice that support farmers in interpreting soil data.

Presented by Soil CRC Project Leader Associate Professor Vaughan Higgins, University of Tasmania who leads the project Why soil management practices are adopted.

Date: Tuesday 22 September 11am – 11:45am