Healthy soils for sustainable farms

Workshops and field days

Demonstration sites

BCG has established four sites to demonstrate and evaluate soil health management practices at a local scale. Management practices at the demonstration sites are compared spatially through paired paddocks and temporally through long term trials. These sites are located at Sea Lake, Birchip and Minyip. Click on the image to view a larger map showing the locations of the four demonstration sites.

Sea Lake

The hosts for this paired demonstration site are Mick McClelland and Justin Brennan. The site is located between five and ten kilometres north of Sea Lake on the Sea Lake – Swan Hill Road. These particular sites were selected because of their current involvement in two other projects in which BCG participates – the Farming Systems Project and the Capacity Building for Sustainable Landscapes (Landcare) project. It is anticipated that the HSSF project at the Sea Lake site will focus on Precision Agriculture and the impact it has on soil health.

Birchip

There will be two demonstration sites located in the Birchip area – one at BCG's long term Farming Systems Trial site, and the other at BCG's Main Field Day site.

Soils of the Birchip Region

Farming Systems Site

The Farming Systems site is located 28 kilometres north of Birchip on the property of Ian and Warrick McClelland. This site was established in 1999 to help determine the medium to long-term impacts of four different farming systems on the financial viability and physical and environmental sustainability of the farming operation. The site focuses on demonstrating the impact of compaction on soil health over time. For more information look at the Soil Health Activities in the Wimmera Mallee- Birchip Site Fact Sheet. 

The soil type of the site has been characterized as a Mallee clay loam (calcarosol). The topsoil is a clay loam which changes to a light medium clay at a depth of 10-20cm. Further down the profile, the clay content increases to a medium clay. The soil is highly alkaline ranging from a pH_(water) of 8.0 in the topsoil to 9.5 down the profile. Severe subsoil limitations exist at this trial site.

Click here for the detailed analysis and management considerations for a No till and cultivated plot from the Farming Systems Site.

More information on the Flexible Farming Systems trial

BCG Main Field Day Site

BCG's Main Field Day site for 2007 was on the property of Brian and Chris Hogan, four kilometres north of Birchip on the Berriwillock road. The soils type is a Mallee clay loam.

The Main Field Day site was selected for use in the HSSF project to provide farmers with an opportunity to improve their knowledge and understanding of soil health at the same place where they could learn the latest about BCG’s trial work. The HSSF theme at the site was 'Measuring and Managing Soil Health'. It was aimed to clarify some of the issues around what 'soil health' actually means and how soils can be managed to improve the productivity and profitability of a farm business.

More detailed soil information 

Minyip

The Minyip site is located approximately fifteen kilometers east of Minyip on the properties of Peter Walsh & Shane McGrath. The site is part of a collaborative project with the Victorian No-Till Farmers Association, and the paired paddocks are comparing the impact on soil health of a strict no-till farming system with a system that includes some degree of cultivation.e end of January 2009.

This site has been selected to directly compare the impact on soil health of a strict no-till farming system with a system that includes some degree of cultivation.

Workshops

Workshops are being conducted by BCG, Southern Farming Systems, Mallee Sustainable Farming and Rural Solutions SA. The workshops will build on the knowledge, networks and experience of the organisations involved. There is a focus on tailoring the content to the local needs of farmers, based on the market needs analysis and making use of locally relevant demonstration sites.

There are nine modules available for delivery:

• understanding soil health
• understanding soil types
• understanding soil structure
• understanding soil tests- chemical
• understanding soil biology
• managing soil organic matter
• managing subsoil constraints
• managing soil erosion
• understanding soil water use efficiency

Understanding Soil Tests - Chemical
The understanding soil chemical testing module has already been completed (14 February 2008). This workshop aimed to give workshop participants a greater understanding and confidence in soil testing for soil chemical attributes. Several sessions were covered throughout the day to enable participants to:

• define the reason for soil testing and identify soil parameters that need to be measured
• identify and develop a sampling plan appropriate for their needs
• identify the characteristics of good labratory service providers
• appreciate the range of approaches available to interpret results
• recognise and prepare a complete and well structured recommendation
• understand how to incorporate their learnings into a soil health management plan
• find further information and advice

Farmers at the Nhill workshop, learning how to interpret their own soil results

Three additional workshops were then organised from this module, aimed at farmers this time.  The three workshops were very successful with a lot of discussion generated and many questions anwered.  Brooke White (Cropfacts) and Kate Wilson (agrivision) did a fantastic job of explaining critical values for soil characteristics, what PBI is and how this relates to phosphorus, how to calculate fertiliser requirements for a potential yield,  and how to convert mg/kg to kg/ha.  

Understanding Soil Types and Structures
Mark Imhof from DPI conducted the 'Understanding Soil Types and Structures" workshop on Friday 20 June in BCG's conference Room.  Nearly twenty farmers attended the workshop to get a better understanding of soil types and how to recgnise soil structural problems and management constraints on their farm.  There was several powerpoint presentations, some practical exercise, and a trip to BCG main Research and Demonstration site to view a soil pit.  Some of the highlights included:

• Being able to recognise what is good and bad structure for soils
• Understanding the relationships between soil properties and soil management and structure
• Understanding practices that can encourage good structure and remedy poor structure
• Being able to recognise the importance of soil differences and the variablity in soils
• Being able to recognise the differences in key soil properties at the surface and at depth
• Understanding how the properties of soil affect what you want the soil to do 

Above left: Farmers wetting, moulding, and ribboning different soil types to determine it's classification	Above centre: Mel Cann showing farmers how to assess the soil to determine what soil type it is in the soil pit at Curyo	Above right: Participants analysing the colour of the soil after being treated to determine the pH of the soil profile

Managing Soil Organic Matter
Catherine Botta presented the "Managing Soil Organic Matter" workshop on 24 June at Murtoa for both advisors and farmers.  The sessions were designed so that at completion participants were able to:

• Know what soil organic matter and soil organic carbon are
• Understand the functions  of organic matter in soil health
• Know how soil organic matter composition changes and depletes
• Know how management practices will encourage organic matter cycyling in their soils
• Understand how to incorporate their learnings into a soil health management plan
• Know where to find follow-up information and advice

The majority of participants found the workshop to be useful, relevant, of high quality and an efficient use of their time.

Understanding Soil Biology
Pauline Mele, a principle research scientist at DPI, statewide leader for soil biology and winner of Land and Water Australia's Senior Research Fellowhip and Damian Bougoure from DPI's Biosciences Research Division conducted two workshops over two days "Understanding Soil Biology."  The first day was for consultants and the second day was for farmers.  The interaction between presenters and participants at each workshop was great with many topics being thoroughly discussed. 

Left: A participant looking  through the microscope for organisms within the soil sample Right: Farmers listening to Damian present

At the end of the presentations, participants were given a practical exercise to test how much organic matter was present in their sample of soil. Samples were then placed under the microscope to view what bacteria, fungi or other organisms could be seen in their soil samples.

Of special interest was the new research that Pauline is currently working on called 'Microassays'.  It is a really new technology that is going to vastly increase our understanding of what soil biology is present in the soil and what activity is occuring.  Other topics that were discussed throughout the workshop included:

• What soil biology is and its contribution to soil health
• Why is soil biology so important for environmental sustainability
• What regulates soil biology and how soil biology can change
• What techniques are available to measure and monitor soil biology
• How management affects soil biology and how changes to management may improve soil biology

 Future Workshops

Useful websites

Victorian Resources Online - DPI's Victorian Resources Online (VRO) is your gateway to a wide range of natural resources information and associated maps that will be progressivley developed and continually expanded throughout the course of the project. You can access this information at both state-wide and regional levels across Victoria. The soils webpage covers some broad areas of interest in more detail such as:

• Soil and Land Survey Directory- contains details of over 100 major soil and land surveys conducted throughout Victoria
• Surface Soil pH- describes and maps the significance and management of soil pH in Victoria
• Soil Management- by understanding the behaviour of soils we can maximise their use in a sustainable way. Soil structure degradation, nutrient decline, acidification and erosion can occur for many soils which are poorly managed.
• Soil Health- refers to the 'fitness' (condition) of soil to support specific uses (eg. crop growth)

Catchment Knowledge Exchange - The Catchment Knowledge Exchange (CKE) project is testing the concept of knowledge brokering, with the first trial area being soil health. The CKE is an initiative of the Victorian Catchment Management Council and is supported by the National Action Plan on Salinity and Water Quality (NAP).

Project funders and collaborators

The Healthy Soil for Sustainable Farms (HSSF) program is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry through the Natural Heritage Trust, in partnership with the GRDC and is managed by Land & Water Australia. Organisations participating with BCG in the HSSF project include DPI Victoria, Rural Solutions SA, Southern Farming Systems, Mallee Sustainable Farming Incorporated and Nutrient Management Systems.