Soil Knowledge Broker reflects on Soils 2024 Conference

“Te Kiri o Papatūānuku” (the skin of Mother Earth)

By Felicity Harrop, Soil CRC Soil Knowledge Broker

Recently, I was fortunate to attend the joint New Zealand Society of Soil Science (NZSSS) and Soil Science Australia Conference held in the stunning volcanic landscape of Rotorua New Zealand with Soil CRC CEO Michael Crawford, Soil CRC researchers and PhD students. We were joined by over 300 delegates who had travelled from every Australian state, across New Zealand and several Pacific Island Nations.

The theme for the conference, ‘Weaving soil science across cultures and environments’, focused on the fundamental role soil plays in everyone’s lives and the pressing need to understand, protect and manage soils wisely.

Delegates received a warm Māori pōwhiri (welcome) involving whaikōrero (formal speech), and waiata (singing). True to the conference theme, Māori cultural and environmental knowledge, values and insights were generously shared throughout the whole conference.

I found the continual connection of the complex cultural and familial relationship Māori have to their land and the importance of historical knowledge for future sustainable land and water management most valuable and humbling.

Plenary speaker Dr Tanira Kingi from Scion Research Ltd, set the scene for the conference covering climate change mitigation, land use diversification and tikanga Māori: the transitioning of Aotearoa New Zealand’s agricultural landscapes. Soil Science Australia and Soil CRC Patron, the Hon Penny Wensley AC, highlighted the importance of thinking big about soil, advocating for blending western science with indigenous knowledge.

There was much enthusiasm and engagement from early career soil scientists, with a record number of younger soil scientists participating in the soil judging competition.

Dr Crawford said he was extremely proud of the Soil CRC PhD students who delivered both oral and poster presentations across a range of topics and sessions. We would like to give a special shout out to Sundus Saeed, Evanna McGuiness, Vijay Kumar Aralappanavar, Kamrun Nahar, Peter Weir, Stephen Lang, Sadia Sabrin Nodi, Chenting Jiang and post doc Abe Gibson for representing the Soil CRC and our PhD student cohort with such professionalism and flare. More on student projects can be found here: Soil CRC PhD students.

Soil CRC researchers were also well represented sharing lots of exciting research, highlighting to the scientific and industry community the valuable Soil CRC contributions.

A topic of particular interest was soil information systems and sensors. Representing the Soil CRC in this area were Federation University’s Associate Professor Peter Dahlhaus, who spoke about the Visualising Australasia’s Soils project, and soil indicator choices in Australian farming systems, and the University of Tasmania’s Marcus Hardie, who showcased the emerging soil technologies from UTAS and the Soil CRC.

Soil and water management and soil security were also popular topics presented by Soil CRC researchers Dr Yunru (Chloe) Lai from the University of Southern Queensland, and Charles Sturt University’s Professor Catherine Allan and Dr Nicholas Pawsey.

There were plenty of other engaging and informative presentations from Australia and overseas, including approximately 30 scientists from South Pacific nations passionately sharing their knowledge of community soil security and nutrient management, cheered on by their friends and colleagues, which Dr Crawford found inspiring.

We were also fortunate to attend a field trip providing a fantastic opportunity to be immersed in the New Zealand landscape, to see and hear firsthand how nutrient flows from farms and towns are being managed by farmers and others, to reduce the environmental impact on Lake Rotorua, while trying to maintain productive capacity.

Appropriately, the conference peaked on December 5 with World Soil Day celebrations and the launch of the highly anticipated fourth edition of the Australian Soil and Land Survey Field Handbook, providing specific methods, standards and terminology for soil and land surveys. The handbook is authored by the National Committee on Soil and Terrain (NCST), which is comprised of representatives from key federal, state and territory agencies.

Congratulations to the organising committee, led by NZSSS with collaborative support from Soil Science Australia and representatives from the Island Nations of the Pacific Soil Partnership. We are already looking forward to the next Soil Science Conference in Perth in November 2026.