Soils

Western Australia’s agriculture sector needs access to quality soil that can sustain long-term productivity and growth. The department is leading the way in developing management practices to maximise soil productivity and minimise land degradation. The department also provides technical information on managing soil constraints, including acidity, water repellence, subsoil compaction, erosion along with nutrient management. We also support agriculture through soil and land condition monitoring, condition assessment and providing management strategies and tools to improve soil condition.

Articles

  • Farm fires will often lead to contaminated surface-water supplies: ash and soil from burnt paddocks and bushland can be blown or washed into farm dams and provide nutrients for bacteria and algae.

  • Dryland salinity can be assessed on-farm by observation and/or measurement.

  • Salt is a natural component of land, water and ecological systems in Western Australia. Large areas of naturally saline land (primary salinity) were present before European settlement.

  • The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) completed a major analysis of groundwater trends in the agricultural areas of south-west Western Australia in 2014.

  • The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) is planning for the future of irrigated agriculture development in the Pilbara

  • Rising groundwater is a major land degradation hazard in many areas of the South West Agricultural Region of Western Australia, and results in increased salinisation.