Ten habits of healthy soil farmers

1. Maintain organic matter and ground cover

High organic matter returns will increase the potential for building soil organic matter.

Manage grazing (stocking rates; grazing interval) to maintain ground cover

Use minimum-till methods of sowing and minimise soil disturbance

Incorporate rotations and farming systems to support plant diversity

Maintain native vegetation condition to support biodiversity

2. Maintain soil fertility

Consider your soil type, the existing pH and nutrient status, and the form and amount of fertiliser required to suit your farming situation.

Time applications to reduce losses

Manage rotations to assist in maintaining soil fertility - different crop types will use nutrients in different amounts and from different parts of the soil profile.

3. Maintain healthy plant growth

Integrate disease and pest management and use a mix of control methods.

Optimise agronomic management

Increase water use efficiency (mostly determined by soil condition).

4. Manage for soil structural stability

An understanding of the soil’s inherent qualities is essential in managing for soil structural stability and selecting appropriate land uses.

Implement appropriate tillage practices

Limit trafficking by agricultural machinery

Avoid overgrazing which can result in slow regrowth, loss of pasture diversity, the incursion of weeds, soil loss and compaction.

5. Monitor & evaluate soil constraints

Identify priority investment areas and potential investment returns.

6. Understand soil limitations – fit for purpose

Recognise the extent and nature of soil constraints to production within and between different soil types to help determine potential land use and management.

7. Learn for continuous improvement

Community learning and development supports people in communities to identify and understand issues that are important to them.

8. Value the balance between production, and ecological and environmental services

Increasing profitability and decreasing environmental losses requires efficient use of resources and maintenance of soil condition. Both the resistance and resilience of a community to recover after stress improves with increasing biodiversity.

9. Invest in profitable strategies to enhance soil health

Maintaining soil condition is often less expensive than enforced remediation. The premise of healthy soils = healthy food = healthy people needs to be recognised.

10. Manage for climatic variability

Options include diversification of crops or extending the opportunities for both on and off-farm income, greater use of off-farm labour to increase the speed of operations, opportunity cropping, managing for biodiversity to maintain ecological function and managing for soil health to increase the capacity to recover from stress.

Source and more information: http://soilhealthknowledge.com.au/