Have your say: A national survey to understand soil issues, knowledge gaps and opportunities

A national survey to understand soil issues, knowledge gaps and opportunities across Australia is now open.

Results from the survey – which is open to all those interested in the future of soils, from agriculture to natural resource management – will help inform the design and delivery of targeted soil interventions to address priorities under the National Soil Strategy and for WA, the WA Soil Health Strategy.

Soils are important in sustaining healthy food production, ecosystems and environment. Protecting and improving soil health and landscape condition under a warming, drying and more variable climate – while aiming for net zero emissions and increasing food production for a growing population – requires ongoing development and adoption of better soil-management practices.

For this reason, the Regional Soil Coordinators, who are based across the country at each of the eight Drought and Innovation Hubs, are asking people involved in soil management to complete a new survey on the soil issues, gaps and opportunities in their region.

Strong representation from WA into the national survey will help identify the key soil issues and knowledge gaps, as well as RD&E opportunities for improved soil management across the varied soil types, farming systems and soil management issues.

The survey is not just for the agricultural sector, but also covers wider natural resource management of soils, so everyone interested in the future of soils is encouraged to participate in the survey.

The multi-choice questionnaire, which only takes about 20 minutes to complete, has been funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) National Landcare Program.