Beyond the Bale - Issue 25 - Young scientists aim to boost profitability
This year's winner of the AWI-sponsored Science and Innovation Award for Young People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has the chance to research a topic she is passionate about – soil biology – in a bid to improve the wool industry.
By looking into the natural riches contained within Australia's soils, ACT-based Susan Orgill wants to help growers reduce reliance on inorganic fertilisers. Her project will examine soil fertility's economic benefits and satisfy an enthusiasm she has for the sustainable management of ‘living soil'.
"More attention is often given to the management of chemical and physical factors than to soil biological processes," she says. "I work with growers who increasingly face issues such as drought, poor wool prices and nutrient depletion. This project will help me service what they have identified as important: improved nutrient supply through managing for a healthy and productive living soil. In time, farms could reduce reliance on inorganic inputs and thus reduce production costs."
Another 2006 Science and Innovation Award winner will also be researching Australia's wool industry. Land and Water Australia-sponsored winner Megan Chadwick, who is based in WA, will study ‘salt-resistant' sheep.
Ms Chadwick says that although saltbush can lower supplementary feed costs and improve overall profitability, its grazing value is limited by the capacity of sheep to tolerate high salt content. "This experiment will test whether lambs from ewes on a high-salt diet during pregnancy gain more weight, produce more wool or have better meat quality when grazing saltbush than normal sheep."
Return to Beyond the Bale issue 25 index page.