Recently, PIRSA Research Scientist Amanda Schapel presented a free webinar on soil health. Whilst not a topic that everyone will engage with immediately, the presentation, “More than just dirt – our living soil” is presented in an easy to understand and engaging way.

You can view the full Powerpoint presentation below or re-watch the Zoom recording.

 

It’s more than just dirt!

Dirt is a mix of gravel, sand, silt and clay but add organic matter, air and water and you have soil. Soil is fundamental for everyday life and 95% of our food comes from soil. A healthy and functioning agricultural soil sustains biological activity, maintains environmental quality, promotes plant, animal and human health, and is productive, resilient and profitable.

Traditionally, soils have been assessed on a single function, namely, plant yield or productivity. This focus ignores that healthy systems incorporate several soil benefits. Key functions that agricultural soils provide:

• Productivity – growing biomass for food, fibre and energy to create a productive and efficient system.
• Nutrient cycling – supply of nutrients to plants and microbes through decomposition of organic matter or mineral sources.
• Water circulation and storage – the ability to capture all the rain in the system through good infiltration and store it where the plant roots can access it.
• Soil biological organisms – optimised activity and diversity leads to more efficient and resilient systems.
• Greenhouse gas mitigation – long term storage or sequestration of organic carbon whilst maintaining other soil functional benefits.

To be able to establish your farms natural capacity, you need to know your soil and any climatic limitations. Characterising your soil starts with assessing the soil texture at the surface and down the profile. Look at the soil colour and smell as it can tell you many things, record the depth that roots have grown, this can point out any restricting layers that can constrain productivity. Use a field pH test kit (available from most hardware shops) to determine if your soil is in the range for nutrients to be available and support biological activity. Use guides or benchmarks to establish reasonable goals for your soils, rainfall and production system.

You can then assess the function of your soils by monitoring a range of chemical, physical and biological indicators. Utilise the tables that outline some tests and assessments for each of the five soil functions. Monitor and record over time in the same locations.

In summary

Assessment of a soil’s functioning ability starts with:

1. Defining what soil health and function is for the situation
2. Identifying the soil type and its limitations
3. Understanding what can be changed and what can’t
4. Modifying the expectation, management practice or soil
5. Monitoring key soil, plant and economic attributes to measure soil function
6. Reassessing the system – is it working?

There is no bad soil type, we have the soil we have, and the challenge is to identify the management activities that suit the soil texture, rainfall and production system.

Be realistic about the natural capacity of your soil. A sand in a low rainfall zone should not be compared to a loam in a higher rainfall. As much as we may like to have the same capacity as a different soil texture or region, establish expectations and work towards management or practices that can optimise what you have.

Maintaining ground cover as long as possible is one of the most important soil health activities. It provides a source of organic matter and modifies surface conditions (moisture and temperature) that affect decomposition and release of CO₂ back to the atmosphere.

This article has been prepared as a part of a project supported by the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program and Landscape Board levies.

WoTL’s mission, to grow and inspire women in agribusiness, is achieved for the most part by our large and intricate network of volunteers. These are people, often women but also men, who resonate with our mission and have joined forces by offering their time, skills and passion to support and provide knowledge and opportunities for rural women and those connected through agriculture.

“If not me, then who? If not now, then when?

Top image: Caroline Booth and Sandra Ireson selling raffle tickets at the McGrath Foundation Pink Socks Day for Ladies Day at their local rugby club.

Sandra Ireson and Lucy Pedler are both WoTL volunteers. Sandra is a co-convenor of the Thriving Women 2023 Conference. Lucy is a WoTL Ambassador involved in bringing WoTL’s workshops to her local area. Their volunteering does not stop with WoTL though, with both women being leaders and instigators in their local rural communities.

Like many rural women, working from a home office in your own business is quite the norm. It can also be quite isolating. Sandra lives near Booligal, a small town in the Riverina of western New South Wales. With a population of well under 20 and Hay, the next largest town being 85 km away, volunteering was a natural way of bringing community together, satisfying our human need for socialisation and connection and sometimes, even creating a distraction from the challenges of running a farming business.

“During the drought years, when things were bad, having something to focus your attention on outside the farm was quite necessary”, she explains.

Sandra knows she is a product of her parents. They spent a lot of time volunteering and now Sandra also has the willingness and desire to contribute so much of her time and energy to her local community.

“There is that selfish aspect, I suppose, that you know it is going to help your children too. But you know it’s also going to help the community by directing what’s needed”.

This year, Sandra put her hand up to be a co-convenor of WoTL’s Thriving Women 2023 Conference. Having been a participant and a presenter at previous conferences, she knew this was something that needed to come to New South Wales.

“When volunteering it’s important that whatever you choose to volunteer your time with aligns with your values. Thriving Women aligns with my values of supporting our local and remote communities and giving them a voice”.

“I always think about what do I want my kids to see? What makes a good community? If I want my kids and my community to thrive, they need to see me being a part of that.”

Lucy Pedler presenting at the Thriving Women 2022 Conference as a WoTL Ambassador.

Lucy Pedler has been living on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula for 13 years. In recent years, she has been involved in bringing numerous WoTL workshops to the Eyre Peninsula. Through her involvement in women in ag and local farmer groups she has also begun working as a facilitator.

Like Sandra, Lucy saw a desire and a need in the community for local events for rural women and put her hand up to get involved. She saw a lack of representation of females in agriculture and the part they play.

“There was an alignment. I love women in the ag space and how that role changes over time. I enjoy helping women to see that they are more than just a farmer’s wife”, says Lucy.

“People were keen for something to happen on the Eyre Peninsula. We thought let’s run some workshops and see what that looks like. We needed to source some funding, but we had the backing of WoTL which was great.

“Being a WoTL Ambassador was something that just evolved. It is a great starting point for volunteering, as you are supported in gaining the skills required to be a good leader”.

Fitting in volunteering around paid work, family and other commitments can be a challenge. Getting the balance right is something both women acknowledge is vitally important, especially for families, and saying no when you are at your limit or when the fit isn’t right, is a skill.

“I probably said yes to things when I was at home a lot more with young kids”, says Lucy.

“However, through doing some of those earlier roles, I realised where my skills were best used. Over time, you realise where you can be most useful. If I’m asked to contribute to something, I always need to consider, ‘what can I bring to it’ and ‘will it be useful?’ My husband and I have an unwritten rule that we are only involved in one big (volunteer) thing at a time. We can’t be out every night!”.

Whilst volunteering is usually for the betterment of others and the community, there is also a lot to gain on a personal level.

“Who doesn’t feel good when they are helping a bigger cause than themselves. I’ve loved all the different people I’ve connected with”, says Lucy.

“Volunteering is a great way to gain skills in an area you didn’t expect to. You learn a lot through volunteering, developing networks and friendships that you may not otherwise have had”.

Whether you have a lot of a time to volunteer, or just an hour a week, there are many ways to volunteer in various capacities.

“Whether you coach a junior netball team and you see them improving week to week, or it’s a project you have been working on that has finally come to life and is helping the community, it’s the feeling of doing something for the bigger cause. You feel good about yourself”.

In a time when many organisations are crying out for volunteers, both women believe that if you have a role to fill, you need to tap people on the shoulder. Young people are also an untapped resource.

“Young people can often be a bit shy or lack confidence. Look at what skills you need and what they might be able to offer. Even if they don’t have the skills, you can support them with that. I quite enjoy that, as part of succession planning on a committee. It’s important to give them the confidence to be involved and listen to their ideas because they’re great!” says Sandra.

“I think too with volunteering it’s the people leading the cohort of volunteers, organisations are trying to see the skills in people and suggesting roles for them. Offer any support they may need”, said Lucy.

So, what is at the heart of volunteering?

“I always think about what do I want my kids to see? What makes a good community? If I want my kids and my community to thrive, they need to see me being a part of that”, says Lucy.

“A quote I think about often, and especially lately is, ‘If not me, then who? If not now, then when?”, says Sandra.

If this article resonates, you have a passion in supporting women in agriculture, making a difference in your community and may like to volunteer with WoTL, please contact Kim Blenkiron, Executive Officer, eo@wotl.com.au.

Early bird ticket sales for the highly anticipated Thriving Women 2023 Conference will be released at 9am AEST on Wednesday May 3.

Hosted by WoTL, the TW2023 Conference will be held across three days from 13 – 15 August at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga.

WoTL have confirmed the keynote speakers will include one of Australia’s most high-profile and respected journalists and author, Leigh Sales AM. Sales is best known for her work with the ABC, particularly as host of current affairs program 7.30 from 2011 – 2022. She is the current presenter of the ABC’s Australian Story program.

Olympia Yarger, the CEO and founder of Canberra-based waste management infrastructure company and 2023 ACT Australian of the Year will also appear in the program. She will be joined by women’s fashion trailblazer, Jane Cay, owner of one of Austalia’s most successful retail businesses, birdsnest.

The TW2023 Conference Program also features fifteen “Toolbox Talk” presenters running in five concurrent sessions enabling delegates to select topics best suited to their needs. Presenters have been carefully chosen to be informative, thought-provoking and all well versed in the realities of women living and working in agricultural communities.

“The TW2023 Conference team is thrilled to be able to bring speakers of such a high calibre to the conference and to Wagga Wagga,” says Thriving Women Conference Co-Convenor and Euberta farmer, Lisa Anderson.

“All of our keynotes have strong connections to the land and to rural communities, and we are confident their messages will resonate with delegates”.

Thriving Women brings together people connected through agriculture and has been run in South Australia in 2018, 2020 and 2022 with each event exceeding expectations with over 200 participants attending from across the agribusiness sector. The event has seen increasing demand for its offerings in other states and event organisers are excited to bring TW2023 to New South Wales.

The theme of Growing and Inspiring Women Connected Through Agriculture will focus on the critical role women play in the day-to-day operation of primary production, natural resource management and rural communities. Additionally, women also play a critical role in agribusiness and related industries including processing, marketing and value adding of agricultural commodities.

“The Thriving Womens Conference is unique in its structure in that many of the presentations are interactive. It’s less about sitting and listening, which also does happen, but delegates are also asked to participate and contribute their thoughts and ideas. By default, a lot of networking occurs which is one of the biggest benefits of attending the event”, says Ms Anderson.

Fostering a safe and welcoming environment, the event encourages the development of networks, knowledge, and skills through participation and contact with other delegates. Participation in TW2023 will empower delegates to be confident, capable, and influential, working towards a sustainable future for agriculture.

The TW2023 Conference will be held at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales and tickets are limited to 200 delegates.