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Better soil testing could ‘save dollars on-farm’ Grain grower Jack Pearlman farms 3300 hectares at North Star in northern New South Wales with his parents Michael and Kylie. He said a test to assess soil stability saved him $50,000 in unnecessary gypsum application. Photo: Melanie Jenson.
A leading soil scientist is calling for an urgent rethink of how soil constraints are assessed with concern that an over-reliance on a commonly used soil test is resulting in costly and ineffective soil management strategies on-farm 38 per cent of the time.
University of Southern Queensland’s (USQ) Professor John Bennett is leading a $3.3 million Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) investment – the economics of ameliorating soil constraints in the northern region – investigating strategies to overcome two key constraints, dispersive and compacted soils.