Riverland Soil Workshop

The SA branch of Soil Science Australia is running a soil workshop in the Riverland. The workshop will be examining two organic matter amendment trials in the Riverland and their associated soil types.

The first is at the Najar vineyard at Monash where under vine and inter row cover cropping, organic matter with soil ripping and under vine mulch were trailed to increase soil health, water use efficiency and increased production. The second is a trial site at the Almond Center of Excellence Orchard, where a 4 year trial run by Nigel Fleming (SARDI) has just concluded. The trial investigated the effect of different soil organic matter treatments and different application methods on the dune and swale soil system. Nigel will give a rundown of the trial results in terms of soil biology, soil physical changes and crop production.

One soil pit is at the Monash site and three pits at the Loxton orchard, facilitated by Brian Hughes (PIRSA), Edward Scott (CPSS) (Soil and Land Co.) and Dr. Geoff Kew (CPSS) (Soil Profile). The day will conclude at the Loxton Hotel – where there will be informative talks from Dr Mark Farrell (CSIRO), Professor Tim Cavagnaro (The University of Adelaide ) and Dr Thomas Lines (The University of Adelaide) on organic matter in soil, soil biology and cover cropping. 

This Project is supported by the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board through funding from landscape levies, and sponsored by APAL Laboratories and The Almond Board of Australia.

SSA will potentially be running a bus (leaving 6.30 am and returning at 10 pm) from Waite Campus if there is enough interest, please email SSA SA Branch President Emily Leyden direct if you would like to make use of this. The cost for the day is $40 for SSA Members – book through the provided Eventbrite link.