HEALTHY SOILS
Building land manager capacity and knowledge in soil health and conservation
NT SOIL CONSORTIUM
Territory Natural Resource Management (TNRM) has established the NT Soil Consortium to bring together soil experts, land managers from various industries and others who are involved in, or have an interest in, soil health and conservation.
The NT Soil Consortium aims to strengthen the capacity and knowledge of land managers, to better enable them to implement land management practices that will improve on-farm soil.
CHALLENGES OF SOIL MANAGEMENT
Soils in the NT are variable and lack uniformity, and are therefore difficult to manage conventionally.
Additionally, rainfall across the Northern Territory is extremely variable with 1,700mm of rainfall per year in the North, compared to 280mm of rainfall per year in the South.
The variable rainfall within the Northern Territory further increases the difficulty of managing viable soil within the region.
Understanding and managing on-farm soil is therefore imperative to ensuring that farming in the NT continues in a competitive and sustainable manner.
From backyard gardeners to horticulturalists, to pastoralists and even kitchen chefs, the Consortium will benefit everyone. The opportunities that come from networking, training and learning about soil management will allow the Northern Territory to become resilient against challenges facing those who work on the land.
The NT Soil Consortium invites everyone who has an interest in the land and their soil to be involved.
The NT Soil Symposium is a roadshow of leading soil scientists, farmers and passionate soil industry representatives, presenting ideas and experiences that promote and offer soil conservation and soil health activities to the NT’s agricultural and
horticultural stakeholders.
Thank you very much to all our guest presenters who took us on fascinating and insightful journeys of their own soil stories, their labor and research.
Thank you also, to all who supported the symposium tour, and those who took time out to attend.
This series of events is part of TNRM's NT Soil Consortium. A project delivered by Territory TNRM, through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.
BUILD YOUR KNOWLEDGE
As an initiative of the NT Soil Consortium, we will provide the latest news, information, tools and resources to assist Territorians to enhance the characteristics of their soil.
We will also provide information about the biological composition of soil, the ecosystem services that soil provides and how to protect soil from erosion and other types of deterioration.
GET INVOLVED IN OUR EVENTS
TNRM will be running a number of NT Soil Consortium events throughout the year, including NT Soil Symposiums, a Natural Process Erosion Course and a Biofertiliser Course.
Addressing the NT NRM Plan
Assisting outback land managers to better manage their roads
MANAGING OUTBACK ROADS
A field manual, 'Managing Outback Roads' has been released to assist outback land managers to better manage their roads. The manual also aims to assist in the reduction of the environmental impacts of erosion and landscape dehydration.
‘Managing Outback Roads’ is a collaborative partnership between South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resource Management Board, Cape York Natural Resource Management, Western Local Land Services, Rangelands Natural Resource Management and Territory Natural Resource Management (TNRM).
“Around 85% of soil erosion on stations is caused by poor road construction which is usually a result of most grader drivers being self taught. You can’t expect the land to fix itself, you need to be proactive and stop acceleration of erosion before you wind up with a real problem.”
Darryl Hill, Soil Expert
TNRM has been committed to assisting land managers to understand and implement sustainable management techniques through the NT Soil Consortium. This manual is an integral contribution to the Consortium as it links soil experts with on-ground practitioners.
The partnership approach to developing the manual was integral to reaching isolated land managers to implement best practice management on their properties.
