Soil Acidity
Soil acidity and liming Focus Group Workshop 3 - 5 August
Dr James Fisher, Désirée Futures
Focus group workshops were conducted at three locations in the central and eastern wheatbelt of Western Australia. Twenty four participants, 22 males and 2 females, aged from 21-30 to 61-70 attended the workshops. The focus groups involved presentation of soil-sampling data from the participants' farms. The main aim of the workshops was to determine whether there are any common barriers to the adoption of liming as a practice to manage soil acidity.
Survey of Western Australian agricultural lime sources
Chris Gazey and Dave Gartner, Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia
As a service to WA wheatbelt farmers, to assist with costeffective management of soil acidity, a survey of agricultural lime availability and quality was conducted by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia.
Soil pH in northern and southern areas of the WA wheatbelt
Chris Gazey and Joel Andrew, Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia
More than 80% of the topsoils sampled fall below the critical surface pHCaCl2 of 5.5 in the northern and southern wheatbelt study areas, with more in the south than the north. These results confirm soil acidity is a serious concern throughout the WA wheatbelt when considered in conjunction with the more intensive analysis of current soil pH throughout the Avon River Basin (2005-2008).
Soil Acidity a guide for WA farmers and consultants
Chris Gazey and Stephen Davies, Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia
Soil acidity is an economic and natural resource threat throughout the Western Australian wheatbelt. Production loss and sustainability are of major concern to farmers, with more than 14.25 million hectares of wheatbelt soils currently estimated to be acidic or at risk of becoming acidic to the point of restricting production. Estimates of production loss for the wheatbelt due to acidity range from $300-400 million, or about 10 per cent of the annual crop.
ARB Regional Soil Acidity Monitoring: Narembeen
Joel Andrew, Precision SoilTech
Soil acidity is one of the most widespread and costly soil constraints to Western Australia's agricultural industry. When soil pHCa falls below 4.5, aluminium concentration rapidly increases to levels toxic to many crop species resulting in reduced plant growth and productivity. The Avon Catchment Council (ACC) has set soil pHCa targets of topsoil (0-10 cm) pHCa 5.5 over a shallow subsurface (10-30 cm) soil pHCa of 4.8 to ensure losses to agricultural production do not occur when soil pHCa profiles meet or exceed these targets.
