Australian soils

Significant risks but excellent opportunities

CSIRO AGRICULTURE

Neil McKenzie Outlook 2016

Soils underpin agriculture • Are current farming systems sustainable

from a soils perspective?

• Can we improve profitability through better soil management?

• Can we expect major benefits from investment into research, development and extension?

2 | Australian Soils , Outlook 2016 | Neil McKenzie

Soil management in Australia has improved a lot

• Early European land use:

‘We could not have made a bigger

mess of the soil of the country if its

destruction had been carried out

under supervision’

Henry Bolte, 1949

• Large improvements, especially in the last 30 years

• Reduction in erosion, contaminants, nutrient imbalances

3 | Australian Soils , Outlook 2016 | Neil McKenzie

Images: Ian Prosser, Bill van Aken, ABC

The outlook for Australia is still mixed

• Ongoing risks: – acidification

– erosion

– nutrient imbalance

– compaction

– carbon

• Half-solved chronic problems

• Not immediately obvious

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Example: soil acidification in Western Australia

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Percentage of sites with soil pH below the critical pHCa of 5.0

Agricultural lime sales improving but still only 65% of annual requirement

Chris Gazey & Lime WA

Further gains in profitability are feasible

6 | Australian Soils , Outlook 2016 | Neil McKenzie

Farm location Goondiwindi

Farm area 2820 ha

Period 2000 to 2009

Average yield gap over 10 years 1.4 t/ha

Area with consistently poor yield

44%

Annual yield loss due to soil constraints

5% to 24%

Lost production due to soil constraints

$52,780

www.yieldgapaustralia.com.au Dang and Moody 2016

National priority and a new partnership model

www.soilstrategy.net.au

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Priority 1: Find solutions to soil-based constraints

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Priority 2: Improve water and nutrient use efficiency

• Optimize soil water-use

• Improve nutrient-use efficiency

• Rebuild stocks of organic carbon

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions

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Based on Passioura and Angus (2010) Advances in Agronomy

Priority 3: Develop better soil information systems

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www.csiro.au/soil-and-landscape-grid

Australian Soils , Outlook 2016 | Neil McKenzie

Priority 4: Support innovation in soil management

• Capture ideas and experience

• Verify and test innovations

• Communicate, collaborate and learn

• Context and location are critical

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A good soil in Lameroo is a poor soil in Gunnedah and vice versa!

Australian Soils , Outlook 2016 | Neil McKenzie

Image: Brian and Troy Fischer, Ashmore, Wasleys South Australia

Priority 5: Develop more effective soil and land-use policy

• Address market failure in supply of soil information

• Protect good quality agricultural land

• Develop complementary policies on climate, agriculture and environment

• Support education to lessen urban-rural divide

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Sustainable soil management: nationally important but globally critical

• Arable land is finite and major crops are reaching yield plateaux

• Further loss of productive soils will amplify food-price volatility

• The majority of the world’s soil resources are in only fair, poor or very poor condition

• The current outlook is for the situation to worsen

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Sustainable soil management is a prerequisite for meeting global food demand

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11. Maintain pest/disease resistance and biosecurity

12. Avoid soil and water degradation 13. Minimise climate change via mitigation

that maintains food security 14. Adapt to unavoidable climate change

1. Reduce waste 2. Reduce over-consumption 3. Reduce livestock component in diet

4. Smart biofuel policies/technologies 5. Expand the land area 6. Increase irrigation 7. Expand aquaculture 8. Close yield gaps 9. Intensify land/water use 10. Lift genetic potential

Keating et al. (2014). Global Food Security

Summary

• Soil management in Australia has improved but is not yet sustainable

• Profitability can increase through better soil management

• Expect significant benefits from patient investment into soil RD&E

Achieving sustainable soil management has the potential to be a great Australian success story

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Graphic: FAO/Global Soil Partnership