Soils Alive! Understanding and Managing Soil Biology on Tasmanian Farms

The Tasmanian project 'Soil Ecosystem Health Measures: An Interpretive Guide for Land Managers' was developed in response to a need to understand the biological make-up of our soils, to establish some benchmarking data with regard to optimum populations of various micro- and macro-organisms, and to provide landholders with practical advice to better manage this resource. This book is the principal output from this project.

 Soils Alive! Understanding and Managing Soil Biology on Tasmanian Farms (PDF 2Mb)

Carried out over 10 months in 2009, the project sampled a small range of land uses on the rich red soils of northern Tasmania. The project aimed to provide landholders with a useful guide to:

  • understand the importance of soil biology to sustainable agriculture;

  • improve awareness of the range and number of soil organisms on farms;

  • help identify the range of soil organisms on individual farms; and

  • provide guidance with regard to management practices that support healthy soil ecosystem function.

Publication details:
Written by Declan McDonald & Denis Rodgers.
Published by Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment.
(Published in 2010)
ISBN/ISSN 13: 978-0-7246-6521-1
Copyright Government of Tasmania 2010