The wealth of soil health information on offer can be overwhelming, especially if you’re only taking your first look at ways to manage your soils for long-term productivity.

A recently completed levy-funded project for the potato industry has tackled this knowledge overload by navigating the wide range of soil health information on offer and developing a package of communication and extension materials, as well as laying out a plan for future investment in soil health projects.

You may remember this project from our earlier articles, including an update on the project back in July and an investigation of the project in the June/July 2018 edition of Potatoes Australia.

Now that the project’s finished, the full final report by the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture project team is available on the InfoVeg database. This report includes the full literature review and a fact sheet on principles for improved soil health and management in potato production.

If you’ve already got experience in the area but want to learn more about soil health, or if you’re just starting out and want to understand the basic principles of how and why improving your soil health can deliver financial benefits from your farm, take a look at the report!

For more information about this project, contact Dr Robert Tegg at robert.tegg@utas.edu.au.

The Australian vegetable industry also funds a dedicated soil health project, the Soil Wealth program, which continues to generate extension materials about soil health improvements and shows the value of soil health in action at trial sites around the country.

This post appeared in the AUSVEG Weekly Update published 16 October 2018. Subscribe to the Update using our online form to receive the latest industry news in your inbox every week!