To review Andrew’s soil carbon management practices and can see the changes in his farming system over the past five years.
Key messages
• The inclusion of a pasture phase and/or pulses/legumes in the cropping rotation is important to maintain and potentially build soil organic matter and nitrogen. Keeping good soil cover all year round promotes high microbial activity which has many soil health benefits. • To assess if applying fertiliser after harvest will increase soil carbon levels, a five-to- 10-year project is needed. If all other soil nutrients are balanced and this practice does increase soil carbon, it may not provide return on investment. • Soil type and rainfall have a great impact on soil carbon levels, with some soil types having a very limited ability to increase soil carbon.
Lead research organisation
N/A
Host research organisation
N/A
Trial funding source
Australian Government
Trial funding source
FRRR
Trial funding source
William Buckland Foundation
Related program
N/A
Acknowledgments
The project was funded from the Australian Government’s Department of Agriculture Action on the Ground program. Riverine Plains partnered with Murray Local Land Services, Northeast Catchment Management Authority and the Victorian Irrigated Cropping Council to deliver the project. Thanks to the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR), and the William Buckland Foundation, we were able to produce the Soil carbon in cropping systems booklet at the completion of the project. As a result of this investment we have investigated the progress of farming systems since the completion of the soil carbon project.
Trial source data and summary not available Check the trial
report PDF for trial results.
Climate
Derived climate information
No observed climate data available for this trial. Derived climate data is
determined from trial site location and national weather sources.
Youanmite VIC
NOTE: Exact trial site locality unknown - Climate data may not be accurate
SILO weather estimates sourced from https://www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/silo/
Jeffrey, S.J., Carter, J.O., Moodie, K.B. and Beswick, A.R. (2001). Using spatial interpolation to
construct a comprehensive archive of Australian climate data , Environmental Modelling and Software, Vol
16/4, pp 309-330. DOI: 10.1016/S1364-8152(01)00008-1.
William Buckland Foundation
