The Lower Avon Richardson Sustainable Soils Group has installed six electronic soil moisture probes to assist members in making informed decisions about managing their crops.   

Donald farmer, Adam Campbell is one of the soils group members with a soil moisture probe installed on his property. According to Adam, the probes are located in different soil types across the district and will benefit the whole group.  

“All group members will be able to see how moisture reacts with different soils, as well as monitor root growth and the uptake of moisture under different crops.   

“Being able to monitor soil moisture will improve management decisions and maximise our returns from cropping. These decisions will also help in maintaining ground cover, which is essential in this area to reduce wind erosion.   

“I also use GPS guidance and minimum till to reduce soil moisture loss, soil disturbance and maintain stubble cover.   

“Another benefit is being able to log onto the website and look at information from the other probes. This has become a great discussion topic among group members as we can view in real time the moisture content of different soils and crop types.  

“Given the district’s farmers receive very similar rainfall we are keen to understand why two of the soil moisture probes indicate considerably less soil moisture than the other four,” Adam said.   

The Lower Avon-Richardson Sustainable Soils Group is one of eight groups participating in the North Central Catchment Management Authority’s (CMA) ‘Farming for Sustainable Soils’ project funded by the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country program.   

For more information on soil moisture probes or the Farming for Sustainable Soils project contact Darren Bain at the North Central CMA on (03) 5448 7124.

For further information please contact: 

Communications Officer, North Central CMA
PO Box 18, Huntly VIC 3551
t: 03 5448 7124
e: info@nccma.vic.gov.au