Action learning with grain growers to increase understanding of soil organic matter and develop management strategies

Abstract

Soil organic matter is critical to sustainable farming. However, it is considered to be complex and is often misunderstood. An extension program was developed and delivered to engage grain farmers and agronomists, utilising a 'paired-site' approach that helped them explore their own soil organic carbon test results. A total of 258 participants attended the series of workshops from Hay (New South Wales) through to Clermont (Queensland). The focus of this project was to enable workshop participants to develop and document their own 'strategies to manage soil organic matter and carbon'; with 232 strategies documented at the end of the project. The highest-ranking strategy was using fertilisers to increase crop/soil nutrition to grow bigger crops with more dry matter. Evaluation surveys indicated that this extension program improved participants' understanding and knowledge of soil organic matter. This program has concurrently generated new data on management practices that increase soil organic carbon, contributed to data sets of its levels in these regions and facilitated new science in the analysis of soil organic carbon.