National blueprint to standardise soil health across Australian agriculture
Article posted by GRDC, 11 June 2025
A $10 million project is set to transform how Australian agriculture understands and addresses soil health – creating a standardised, cross-sector approach.
The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) will invest $6.8 million in a five-year initiative, which will see Australia’s national science agency CSIRO lead the development of a Soil Health Framework tailored to Australian production systems.
The framework will define soil health and function, outlining how it is measured, monitored, managed and reported within Australian agricultural systems, including regionally relevant reference datasets that can be used as benchmarks.
Project lead Dr Mark Farrell, Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO, said major overseas players such as the EU and USA have been working hard to develop frameworks to protect soil health, with the potential to reward proven beneficial practices.
“However some of the major contrasts in soil and environmental conditions that drive best practice on Australian farms can differ markedly from agricultural systems overseas,” he said.
“It is paramount that a fit-for-purpose Australian Soil Health Framework is developed that not only enables soil health to be effectively benchmarked, but that also provides a scientifically robust evidence base to ensure continued access to overseas markets.”
A cross-commodity collaboration has been established to ensure a consistent sector-wide approach including, to date, the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC), Dairy Australia, Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), Wine Australia, Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), and AgriFutures.
The framework will be co-designed with input from key industry stakeholders across the supply chain, including growers, advisors, finance sector/banks, markets/traders/buyers, government and industry bodies/representative organisations, ensuring it is practical, credible and widely adopted.
Project research partners include CSIRO, University of Sydney, Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA)’s South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) and in collaboration with the University of Adelaide, University of Western Australia, Eurofins-APAL and ViridisAg.