High Performance Soils

Project details

Status: Current

TIA's strengths in agricultural science and big data have led to a key role in the new national Cooperative Research Centre for High Performance Soils.

The CRC has been established to provide farmers with the knowledge and tools they need to make decisions on extremely complex soil management issues. Over the next decade, it will focus on increasing the value and quality of the crops produced without necessarily increasing the amount of land under management, by bridging the gap between soil science and farm management.

The CRC brings together 38 partners (8 universities, NSWDPI, Landcare NZ, and 28 farm or agriculture driven groups), led by the University of Newcastle. TIA leads a program:

Sensor networks for on-demand assessment of key soil indicators

This program aims to define the metrics of a ‘high performing’ soil, and create the instruments for farmers to measure them on-farm. These include developing novel, in paddock, rapid low cost approaches to estimating soil chemical properties (lab on a chip).

TIA is also a participant in the CRC’s other programs:

• Investing in high performance soils
• New products to increase fertility and function
• New integrated solutions that provide greater precision to farmers