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Riverine Plains recently hosted a soil health webinar as part of a project supported by the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR), through funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.
While the past few growing seasons have been favourable in terms of pricing and production for most Riverine Plains grain farmers, drought is inevitable, and the next drought or dry time might only be around the corner.
Grain crops require plenty of nitrogen to deliver good yields, and when soils are nitrogen deficient, adding fertiliser into the system is necessary.
Soils in the Riverine Plains region can be complex, with constraints segmented across the profile. Soil acidity is a classic example of this, with some soils not being acidic in the topsoil but being profoundly acidic beyond 15cm depth.
While some soils in northeast Victoria and southern NSW are naturally acidic due to their parent material, others are becoming more acidic due to agricultural production. The ongoing use of nitrogen and the export of agricultural produce (which extracts calcium, magnesium and other cations from the soil) all resul t in net soil acidification.
After two years of above-average rainfall, slugs are again making their presence known across the Riverine Plains, especially in canola. The moist conditions experienced in Spring (and, for that matter, harvest/Summer) have created ideal breeding conditions for slugs. Damage is being reported in previously unaffected areas and has been severe enough to require re-sowing in some canola paddocks.
