Market mechanisms for improved soil stewardship

Previous Soil CRC research has explored the opportunities for consumer and financial markets to reward on-farm soil stewardship practices. This project will further examine and summarise the market mechanisms and opportunities to capture and distribute financial returns from soil stewardship.

To ensure a holistic analysis, the research will cover both existing markets, including consumer, finance, property and insurance, and emerging markets, such as biodiversity and carbon credit and offset instruments.

The project team will synthesise findings from earlier Soil CRC projects in Program 1, as well as new published literature. They will also analyse the challenges to market activation and will carry out smaller strategic studies to fill remaining knowledge gaps, including:

• articulation of soil health indicators for use across the value chain in market activation
• effects of changing soil management practices on property prices.

Importantly, this research is guided by input from farmer groups, financial market participants and value chain stakeholders to ensure the outcomes address the needs of end and next users.

The new knowledge gained in this area since 2017 will be captured in a comprehensive report outlining the incentives available for soil stewardship practices. The information will be further tailored for farmers, property valuers, banks, and soil researchers.

Providing targeted information about the range and magnitude of available incentives is intended to assist decision-making and ultimately increase the uptake of soil stewardship practices.