Soils in good condition, i.e. a living soil, will grow healthy plants, maintain or improve the quality of water, reduce the effects of floods and help remove pollution and waste from the environment. Soil quality issues for horticulture include erosion, compaction, structure decline, salinisation, acidification and pollution by toxic chemicals. Land and soil management strategies include, increasing vegetation cover, maintaining habitat for other flora and fauna, increasing efficiency of fertiliser use, diversion of waste by reuse and recycling and on-site waste management, and waste minimization through cleaner production approaches.
Horticulture is currently funding a number of projects in the soil health area, including research into soil structure, nutrition and soil borne diseases. The industries that have undertaken soil research include strawberries, citrus, bananas, blueberries, deciduous orchards, macadamias, nursery, potatoes, processing tomatoes, turf and vegetables.
To find out more about Soil Health activities in Horticulture click here.
