Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
in vegetable productions systems were also noted. Vigorous tillage with rotary hoes
was found to undermine some of these soil quality benefits by accelerating soil
carbon losses.
The challenge is to further refine our use of composts in the farming systems to
maximise the potential benefits. Combinations of compost applications with mini-
mum tillage may help to further extend the soil quality benefits. More information
on the yield response of the different crops in any given farming system to compost
applications along with economic analyses, analysis can potentially help farmers
to make decisions that will maximise financial outcomes and improve the environ-
mental performance of their farms.
Acknowledgement
The long term compost-vegetable field trial at the Centre for Recycled Organ-
ics in Agriculture (CROA) was a joint research and development project of NSW Department of
Primary Industries (2005-2013), with collaboration and funding support from NSW Department
of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) (2005-2008), the Australian Centre for International
Agricultural Research (ACIAR) (2008-2012) and Horticulture Australia Ltd (HAL) (2010-2013).
Technical assistance provided by Darren Fahey, Lynette Muirhead, Fadi Saleh, Ildiko Meszaros,
and Brett Enman is gratefully acknowledged.
References
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