Funding available for KI farmers to improve soil health

Kangaroo Island Landscape Board (KILB) Chair Andrew Heinrich said the soil extension officer program aims to build the capacity of land managers to improve soil conditions and manage vegetation cover to enhance natural assets and biodiversity, improving both production outcomes and profitability for farmers.

"This program promotes ways to improve the sustainability, productivity and profitability of Kangaroo Island's agricultural landscapes," Mr Heinrich said.

"The Board is looking to work with KI's primary producers to improve the environment and natural assets on agricultural land which will increase the profit margins of these businesses," he said.

KILB is seeking to work with landholders to develop projects that implement or showcase practices that improve soil health, such as:

• Grazing management
• Pasture improvement
• Increasing drought resilience through improving soils, pastures and native vegetation
• Rehydration of soils via aeration, increasing soil organic carbon, riparian (waterways) restoration
• Increase nutrition in pasture
• Minimising chemical fertiliser loss and improve effectiveness and efficiency
• Improvement of ground cover in cropping systems
• Improvement of aeration and water infiltration
• Foliar fertiliser versus soil application
• Biofertilisers and biologicals
• Use of on-island resources and agricultural waste products to make soil amendments
• Or other ideas people may have

Participants must complete their projects before June 2025.

Mr Heinrich said the Board seeks to work with landholders on new projects for this round of funding, not existing trials or demonstration sites through KILB, the Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia or Agriculture Kangaroo Island.

"The purpose of these projects is to share learning and knowledge about improving soil health," Mr Heinrich said.

KILB Soil Extension Officer Cassandra Douglas-Hill said Participants must be willing to allow the KILB to showcase the demonstration site or trial area on their property to the public at pre-arranged times and be willing to talk about the results of the interventions.

"It's important to note that potential participants in the program must also be willing to make an in-kind contribution, even if it's just tractor time," Ms Douglas-Hill said.

Ms Douglas-Hill said it is also essential for participants to be willing and able to record changes in soil health due to the demonstration site or trials.

"In some cases, this will mean that participants will not have access to pasture or crops for the duration of the projects as you can't graze a cover crop trial in the middle of the trial before the results have been recorded and measured," Douglas-Hill said.

Ms Douglas-Hill said soil testing before and after the intervention is included in the funding. KILB must approve the design before work commences.

"We are looking for landholders willing to work with KILB staff to develop a detailed project plan," Douglas-Hill said.

"This is an excellent opportunity for primary producers to make funded interventions to improve their soil's health and the profitability of their farms,” she said.

“If landholders are unsure about potential projects, they can contact the KI Landscape Board’s Sustainable Agriculture team who can work with them to develop projects or trials.”

For more information and to apply, please get in touch with the KI Landscape Board's Soil Extension Officer, Cassandra Douglas-Hill, at 8553 2476 or email Cassandra.Douglas-Hill@sa.gov.au.

This project is delivered by the Kangaroo Island Landscape Board through funding by the South Australian Government’s Landscape Priorities Fund (LPF). The LPF redistributes landscape levies collected by Green Adelaide in the metropolitan area to regional landscape boards.