This guide discusses what soil quality means, why it matters and how you can manage the soils on your farm to improve their quality, productivity and environmental credentials.
FAR Focus 15: Good soil is good business
Soil quality is a valuable indicator of sustainable agricultural productivity, and soil management is the key driver of soil quality.
New Zealand arable growers understand the benefits of managing their soils to maintain quality and support productivity. Their systems comprise of diverse rotations, which include depletive and restorative crops and phases. New Zealand’s high land values by international standards, mean that soils are a farm enterprises major asset, with continuous improvement in soil quality providing clear and sustainable financial returns. Work in Southland by Beare and Tregurtha (2004) showed that yields were affected by soil quality and for every 10% reduction in aggregate stability there was an 8% reduction in wheat crop yield. Based on average autumn wheat yields of 11.6 t/ha from the 2022 Cereal Performance trials in Southland, an 8% yield loss would equate to 0.9 t/ha, or $500 a hectare loss in income (wheat price $540 a tonne).
No one can ignore recent climate changes and weather extremes either. Such climate changes are pressing the need for increasing resilience of arable farm systems and improvements in soil quality have been shown to support long-term resilience through drought tolerance. Increasing public and regulatory focus on issues such as nitrate leaching to ground water, phosphorus loadings in soil runoff and greenhouse gas emissions, means there has never been a more important time to reflect on your soil and how you can maintain or improve soil quality to build profitability and resilience into your farm system.
