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The need to increase farm productivity is very much dependent on maintaining soil fertility.
It is also important to match the type of land management practices such as grazing and cropping to the inherent land capability.
These types of practical considerations were some of the many soil management issues encountered by 28 soil science students from the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University (ANU), during their annual soil mapping course in the Boorowa region.
The course is held annually and this year it occurred over the period 31st August, and 11th -13th October, 2014.
As part of the course, the students investigated soil properties and mapped their boundaries in the Boorowa area. They also took into account a range of other soil and land management factors needed to produce a Soil and Land Capability Map.
The students were in six groups of 4-5 students per group and each group mapped an area of six square kilometers over the four days. ANU staff Dr Richard Greene, Dr. John Field, Dr. Craig Strong and Helen King, from the Fenner School of Environment and Society, assisted the students in carrying out the mapping.
The students also had an after dinner talk from a local land holder, David Marsh from "Allendale", who addressed the students about "Holistic farm management".
The soil mapping exercise began in 1992, and has been held every year since then.
"The ANU is very appreciative of the co operation of the Boorowa landholders," Dr Richard Greene said.
As a training exercise in soil mapping and land capability assessment it is vital that the students are allowed onto properties.
At the end of the course, the students share their findings with the landholders whose farms they have worked on and also gain further insights from the farmers.
This is where the real values of the course are achieved, with the sharing of ideas. Many of the students completing the course have gone on to become professionals in natural resource management and several are now working as agronomists," Dr.Greene explained.
This year several of the students studying the course were from overseas including China, Singapore, Japan, Brazil and New Zealand. Whilst in Boorowa the students and staff stay at the Boorowa Hotel, and this all adds to the experience of the annual soils camp.
Besides the landholders who participated this year, the ANU would also like to thank the Local Land Services, who assisted with establishing contact with the farmers.
-ANU
