Background

The National Soil Action Plan 2023 to 2028 – the first under the 20-year National Soil Strategy – will contribute to further research and investment in national soil monitoring for climate smart sustainable agriculture. The action plan includes 4 priority actions and provides a nationally consistent direction while enabling partners to respond to local, regional, and national soil management challenges in a manner that is suited to their circumstances.

While previous state-based soil monitoring projects have provided valuable insights on soil health and land degradation, the National Soil Monitoring Program (NSMP) will establish Australia’s first national and consistent soil monitoring data program.

This project will:

• support the delivery of the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program, funded through the National Heritage Trust (NHT)
• help address Priority 1 of the National Soil Action Plan. This priority refers to the development of an ‘agreed national framework to support the measurement, monitoring, mapping, reporting and sharing of soil state and trend information, to inform best practice management, decision making and future investment in soil’.
• support goal 3 of the National Soil Strategy (2021) to ‘strengthen soil knowledge and capability’.
• complement the Australian National Soil Information System (ANSIS) by providing publicly available harmonised data from all over Australia.