Soil CRC announces eight new research projects

Another eight research projects, totally $3.5 million in funding have been announced by the Soil CRC.

This significant boost to soil research, brings the number of active Soil CRC projects to 33 and the total investment in projects to over $19 million to date.

The new projects are spread across the four Soil CRC research program areas involving collaboration with 25 participant organisations and running over the next two to three years.

They cover a range of areas, from financially rewarding good soil stewardship to managing soil data, to organic soil amendments and tackling constraints that limit plant access to soil moisture.

In Program 1, researchers will work with financial institutions to examine activating financial markets to reward good soil stewardship; survey farmers to better understand what drives on farm decision making and work with grower groups to build farmer innovation capability. 

In Program 2, soil data has proven to be an important aspect of managing soil for high performance. This new project will take a coordinated and consistent approach to managing soil data in the CRC across the many projects and participants.

In Program 3, the new projects focus on investigating and developing organic soil amendments to unlock nutrients, improve moisture retention and increase soil carbon.

In Program 4, the project focuses on identifying solutions for plants accessing soil moisture in underperforming soils.

The Soil CRC takes a multi-disciplinary approach to soil research, aiming to increase the profitability of Australia’s agriculture through increasing the productivity of our soils.

New Projects

Program 1 – Investing in high performance soils

• Rewarding soil stewardship – led by Dr Nicholas Pawsey, Charles Sturt University
• What drives farmer decisions? – led by Dr Hanabeth Luke, Southern Cross University 
• Building farmer innovation capability – Phase Two – led by Prof David Falepau, Charles Sturt University

Program 2 – Soil performance metrics

• Improved soil data management– led by Dr Nathan Robinson, Federation University Australia

Program 3 – New products to increase fertility and function

• Unlocking soil nutrients with organic amendments – led by Dr Balaji Seshadri, University of Newcastle
• New organic amendments for retaining soil moisture – led by Prof Chengrong Chen, Griffith University
• Increasing nutrient efficiency with new organic amendments – led by Prof Terry Rose, Southern Cross University

Program 4 – Integrated and precision soil management solutions

• Integrated solutions for accessing soil moisture – led by Dr Ehsan Tavakkoli, NSW Department of Primary Industries