B.PAS.0009 - Scoping study for soil management in livestock grazing system

Summary

As an initial step for MLA to develop a Business Case and Investment Plan for soil-related research, development, extension, and adoption (RDE&A) projects to provide sustainability and productivity benefits for red meat producers, a scoping study to meet MLA’s requirements and to review previous studies, reports, literature, and other information was commissioned by the Soil CRC.

The review was extensive, covering outputs and outcomes from soil-related MLA investments over the past 10 years, significant changes in relevant soils based RDE&A over the past 10 years, regional soil constraints and opportunities, a review of international and national policies and frameworks, and several specific areas requiring more detail.

Feedback from MLA provided a final version of the review and a framework to guide MLA investment in soils. The framework had an overarching goal “To manage soil health and improve resilience to climate events and impacts to support the future prosperity and sustainability of the red meat industry”.
The framework identified four key theme areas underpinning an enabling theme of soils extension and adoption.

The four key theme areas are:
• overcoming regional soil constraints,
• optimising soil carbon storage and soil health,
• managing soil impacts form extreme events, and
• leveraging natural capital and marketing access.

The four themes in the framework also provide the context to incorporate statements in MLA’s future strategic plans to explicitly recognise the importance of soil to the future prosperity and sustainability of the red meat industry.

Objectives

The objectives of this review are to:
• Provide MLA with a review and the evidence base developed from published and grey literature, reports and other information for a clearer understanding of the current state of soil related R, D, E & A in relation to the livestock industry.
• Deliver a scoping study that identifies livestock production and feedbase management options that should be pursued in the future to improve sustainability and productivity through enhanced soil performance.
• Identify gaps in knowledge and test the recommended soil R, D, E & A priorities of relevance to red meat producers with MLA Managers through a workshop process that develops a Logic Framework and Investment Strategy.

Key findings

1. Soil needs to be considered from the perspectives of sustainable environmental, economic, productivity, market access and grazing systems. Soil health has been defined in different ways but is essentially a concept of capacity – a measure of soil’s ability to function compared to a reference state or standard based on the inherent parent material. At a broad level, soil health assessment determines soil functions that relate to multiple important ecosystem services, including environmental protection (e.g. water and air quality, prevention of erosion), production of food and fibre (e.g. storing and cycling nutrients), climate and greenhouse gas regulation, biodiversity and human health.
2. Agriculture demands more from soil than natural systems, so it’s not effective to compare soil indicators to undisturbed native vegetation sites. Relevant soil indicators will change with location, soil type and management system. It will be difficult to develop a universal soil health index as factors that developed the soil and climate cause variations in the chemical, physical and biological soil properties across the landscape.
3. The assessment of national priorities for addressing key soil constraints that threaten the future of the industry is sobering. These are mapped by NRM region, intensity of livestock production (beef/sheep herds) and cost to industry (production penalty % or $/ha/yr). The major concerns for the industry are wind and water erosion in northern beef production that has resulted in complete loss of productive capacity along with offsite effects in some areas, soil acidification which correlates with the fixed farming zone, the impacts of dryland salinity and sodicity are underestimated on a national scale, and the threat of accelerating carbon depletion is greatest in temperate/high rainfall zones
4. The greatest benefits from managing soil carbon exist for agriculture outside trading.

Benefits to industry

Agriculture is the most dependent sector of the economy on natural capital – the stock of its renewable and non-renewable natural assets the value that flows from natural inputs (ecosystems services and resources). Soil is a vitally important natural capital asset, playing a critical role in the functioning of ecosystems, underpinning their ability to provide ecosystem services such as biomass provisioning, flood control, water purification and climate regulation.

The future prosperity and sustainability of the red meat industry, including access to international markets will depend on managing the soil resource and addressing key constraints.

MLA action

The review has been circulated to different business units/program areas at MLA as the recommendations have implications beyond Feedbase and sustainable grazing systems. MLA has been in discussion with Federal DAF regarding co-investment opportunities in areas of the National Soil Strategy Implementation Plan that are of mutual concern and benefit.

Future research

Extensive recommendations are made in each sub-section of the report.