Agricultural researchers are hoping to significantly improve the productivity of Western Australian farmlands with a new research project on managing organic carbon in soil.
The Department of Agriculture and Food and the Grains Research Development Corporation will research the issue at several sites across the state until June 2015.
The project is backed by more than $500,000 of Federal Government funding.
The department’s senior research scientist, Frances Hoyle, says farmers need more than the limited information available on the benefits and risks of strategies to change soil organic carbon.
“This project specifically would target to have results available to growers within around 18 months time and certainly within the three-year time frame of the project we would hope to really be increasing the level of knowledge of growers around how to manage soil organic carbon,” she said.
She says it is critical that farmers are provided with more thorough and accurate information.
“Look, I think the main goal is to try to provide some evidence-based information around what growers can and can’t achieve with soil organic carbon and what risks and benefits there might be in targeting their management to actively manage soil carbon,” she said.
