Soil Chemistry & Soil Carbon

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Soil carbon

Soil carbon baseline testing and measurement, compliant with the Federal Government’s “2018 Agricultural Systems” methodology was undertaken by Regenerative Australian Farmers on 17 June. Samples were sent to Environmental Analysis Laboratory (EAL) Laboratory, Lismore for analysis.

A longer monitoring time frame and larger data set is required to ascertain meaningful trends in soil carbon.

Soil chemistry

Soil samples were collected on 6 April (pre-grazing trial) and 11 November (post-grazing trial). 10 sub samples, 0-10 cm depth, were collected along transects in the barley and multispecies trial paddocks. Sub samples were combined and sent to Environmental Analysis Laboratory (EAL) Laboratory, Lismore for analysis.

Soil analysis results from multispecies and barley grazing plots show substantial (>20%) changes in some parameters between the start and end of the trial. Further monitoring will be required to determine if these are lasting changes and whether these are attributable to the crop type or seasonal conditions. For soil analysis results please refer to Figure 1.

Figure 1: Soil analysis results for multispecies and barley grazing trial and control plots, Winona. Parameters showing a >20% change have been highlighted (bold).