Download - New Zealand Society of Soil Science

―What we hope to achieve is to add soil bioengineering to the list of technologies that are used by
pastoral farmers to deliver greater agricultural output and enhancing farm profitability,‖ said Alec
Mackay.
Plant & Food, Palmerston North
The Soil Water & Environment (SWE) Group Conference was held at was held at Plant & Food
Research, Lincoln from 17-18 September 2009.
New Zealand's economy is based on farming activities, with the agriculture and forestry sectors
making a significant contribution to export earnings. This contribution in turn, influences farming
decisions, and about half the total land is used for primary production. However, different production
activities have differing environmental effects on factors such as soil erosion, water use, nutrient
leaching, organic waste generation, and greenhouse gas emissions. Soils are also rich ecosystems,
composed of both living and non-living matter with a multitude of interaction between them. Soils
play an important role in all of our natural ecological cycles - carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, water and
nutrient.
At the conference Mike Beare presented LUCI & SLURI overview. Trish Fraser spoke on Roots for
Sustainability. Steve Thomas presented on Deep Understanding of the Vadose Zone. Denis Curtin
spoke on SOM Research. Abie Horrocks presented on Building farmer confidence in arable IPM
systems. Craig Tregurtha spoke on Sustainable use of compost. Paul Johnstone presented on Soil
management projects in the North Island. Abie Horrocks spoke on West Coast Nutrient Use
Efficiency. Frank Tabley presented NO3 leaching under forage crops. Ian McIvor spoke on Poplar and
Willow Research. Siva Sivakumaran presented on Soil Microbiology. Grant Northcott presented on
Environmental Footprinting Team Analytical and environmental chemistry at Ruakura.
David Hughes presented on Science commercialisation. Getting up close and personal with SAP was
presented by Wendy Keeman. The why and how of lab quality assurance was spoken by Tina
Harrison-Kirk & Kathryn Stillwell. Recording and reporting our outputs - Trish Fraser and Laboratory
tour.
Attended Seminar: Making Science do more for NZ Professor Sir Peter Gluckman (Chief Scientific
Advisor, Prime Minister) and had Dinner at Rossendale Winery.
Top down strategic visions PFR Science and Business Strategy was presented by Bruce Campbell and
Sustainable Production Portfolio Strategy by Derek Wilson.
Did a team work exercise on holding on to strings which made us think science?
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