A NEW Australian Government program launched last week involves 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 Historical Soil Data Capture Payment Program 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.
