Building Drought Resilience Through Improved Soil Health and Management

This field day will address three big issues in farming – maintaining soil fertility and productivity, reducing fertiliser inputs, and increasing drought resilience. The day will cover outcomes of a four-year compost use trial and look at finding solutions that overcome soil constraints and increase drought resilience. The event will offer hands-on learning opportunities and practical tips to help land managers assess and improve the soil health status of their own land. To facilitate this, attendees are encouraged to bring a block of soil from their property (approx. 30 cm x 20 cm x 15 cm deep).

The field day will cover

• The compost use trial – what it is and what we have found
• Soil structure, soil health and soil properties (aided by a soil pit)
• Reading soil and understanding sub soil constraints
• Improving water infiltration to enhance drought resilience
• Assessment of your own soil with simple visual methods