Introductory guide to farm soil mapping

Manderson, A.; Palmer, A; Mackay, A.; Wilde, H.; & Rijkse, W. (2007). Introductory guide to farm soil mapping. AgResearch Ltd., Palmerston North, New Zealand. 64p.

Following each step in this guide will allow anyone to build a concise picture of a farm’s soil resource, and produce a farm soil map to a standard suitable for farm planning and environmental quality assurance. Perhaps the greatest gain will be an improved understanding of a resource mix that is essentially unquie to individual farm properties.

Farm performance and many of today’s environmental challenges can betraced back to soil use and management. Yet those who should know the most about their soils (namely farmers) rarely take the time to better understand how soils can help improve farm performance.

This introductory guide is designed to help anyone find out more about their soils at a level of detail that is correct for farm management purposes.

The techniques and tools described in this Introductory Guide provide a straight forward approach to farm soil mapping. Following each step will allow you to build a concise picture of a your farm’s soil resource, and produce a soil map to a standard suitable for farm planning purposes.

Maybe you’ll find a valuable soil you didn’t know you had, or perhaps you’ll discover why some paddocks are underperforming relative to others. Either way, doing your own soil mapping is a rewarding exercise, not only because you’re gaining information directly relevant to your own property, but also because soil mapping is a transferable skill that you can use on any farm in NZ.

The kit is based on techniques developed (and lessons learned) as part of AgResearch’s Soil Underpinning Business Success (SUBS) programme, which has already helped over 100 farmers map and use farmspecific soil information to further their business and land management performance.