What your soil tests actually mean!

Soil test results can be extremely useful as they provide a snapshot of what nutrients and subsoil moisture is present in the soil profile and therefore can assist farmers in deciding upon an appropriate fertiliser rates and crop types. However the results can be difficult to interpret and apply on farm. In response to this, BCG, in conjunction with the Healthy Soils for Sustainable Farms (HSSF) project, is conducting one last workshop in Birchip on Thursday 8th May from 10 until lunch to discuss what the soil test results represent and how they relate to this year’s cropping program.

Three successful workshops have been conducted, one in Nhill, one in Sea Lake and one in Birchip where guest presenters, 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 lab values from mg/kg to kg/ha. They also demonstrated how to calculate how much moisture in the soil is actually available to the plant. Farmers learning how to interpret their soil test results.

The farmers at all three workshops found the morning to be informative and the session on how to convert nitrogen from their soil test into nitrogen in kg/ha extremely useful. The presenters explained how to calculate how much urea is required for the 2008 wheat crop to reach its potential yield and used different scenarios to demonstrate how to achieve this.

The Healthy Soils for Sustainable Farms project has 8 more informative modules to present to farmers to assist them with understanding their soils and getting the most out of them.  BCG will be holding a workshop in June to cover three modules in one day that all relate to each other: understanding soil health, understanding soil types and understanding soil structure.  The 'Understanind Soil Biology' module will be presented by Pauline Mele on the 13 August for Advisors and the 14 August for farmers.  For more information contact BCG on 0354922787