A new Australian Government program launched this week will see farmers and other land managers receive payment in exchange for sharing their historical soil test data.
Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia, David Littleproud said $21 million would be available to land managers wanting to contribute their soil data to a national database.
“The Historical Soil Data Capture Payments Program is part of the National Soil Strategy which aims to build knowledge for land managers to benchmark their soil against regional or type averages,” Mr Littleproud said.
“We know there is a lot of privately held soil data captured for agricultural management and other purposes. This program aims to gather and preserve soil data and make it centrally and publicly available for others to use.
“Better soil data will lead to improved research, technology and policy outcomes and will benefit all Australians. The Australian Government is seeking suitably qualified service providers to act as data brokers to help deliver the program.
“An industry briefing will be held on 16 February to inform agronomists, advisers, soil testing service providers and others about the opportunity to be data brokers.
“Once selected, data brokers will work with land managers to source soil data that has been collected and tested using approved testing methods in a laboratory.”
Land managers can contribute their data when the Program launches by engaging with Data Brokers. Information and participating Data Brokers details will be published here. Tender will go live at 2pm AEDT today, information will be here.
Fast Facts:
- The Historical Soil Data Capture Payment Program aims to:
- increase the amount of soil data available for all Australians to use
- support land managers to obtain soil information to increase productivity and profitability and monitor soil health, and to access new market opportunities such as agriculture stewardship
- reduce the loss of high-quality historic soil data and make them accessible through a national soil database.
- The funding is part of the $214.9 million Australian Government investment in the National Soil Package and implementation of the National Soil Strategy which includes initiatives for enhancing soil carbon.
