Agriculture Victoria’s soil research capabilities at its Tatura SmartFarm has been boosted with a $1.49 million investment.

Agriculture Victoria research scientist Katherine Dunsford said the ‘Improving soil structure for resilient ecosystems’ project would fund critical research into increasing drought resilience.

“In Australia, soil is the basis for most agriculture, both food and fibre, and directly tied to our food security and economy,” Dr Dunsford said.

“Poor soil structure limits rainfall capture and root access to water, shrinking the soil’s water bucket.

“It can also lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions and reduced fertility, resulting in lower plant production and poor environmental outcomes.”

She said the Tatura farm was in the process of increasing lab capabilities.

“We’re getting that lab to be more functional than it has been for a while,” Dr Dunsford said.

“So we’re putting resources into getting that lab working and our staff over there have been working pretty hard to get that all back up and running for us.”

Dr Dunsford said they were looking to expand understanding across a wider range of soil types and industries, particularly grains and dairy.

“The goal is to guide farmers to effective soil improvement strategies to maintain or boost productivity, enhance drought resilience, and increase environmental services in a changing climate,” she said.

The funding is part of the five-year National Soil Action Plan, which is part of the 20-year National Soil Strategy.

Also, as part of the plan, Agriculture Victoria is launching an expression of interest campaign to encourage farmers to donate soil samples.

Agriculture Victoria principal scientist Tim Sawbridge said he hoped to attract interest from at least 50 farmers statewide.

“We are looking at what microbiomes exist in soil and how they function across natural and farmed environments,” he said.

“A soil microbiome is a community of microbes, bacteria, invertebrates and other life forms that live within soil.

“To gain a deep understanding of their role in soil health, we’re wanting a broad range of samples from various production zones and agricultural industries in Victoria.”

Samples are being taken at Agriculture Victoria’s SmartFarms including over time at the existing DairySoils study at Ellinbank SmartFarm.

“We anticipate that farmers who express interest in submitting samples to the project will have a natural curiosity about what is living within their soil,” Dr Sawbridge said.

“We may discover ways to influence the microbiome’s effect on soil productivity, nutrient uptake, soil carbon and soil capacity to recover and maintain resilience in a changing climate.”

To express interest in participating in the project, farmers can email soil.microbiome@agriculture.vic.gov.au by 5pm on Tuesday, September 30.

Soil samples will be taken from a single geolocation to a depth of 10cm and 30cm from a small area on the farm.

The soil structure, chemistry, botanical information and DNA will be analysed and barcoded for comparison with other samples in the dataset.

You can read more about this project at tinyurl.com/yc26efdu

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