Online Soil Management Australia Course Online

Learn how to improve your soils and benefit from them.

This course examines:

The properties of soil
Testing
How to manage and improve soil
Soil problems
Sustainability of soils and much more.

Soil is the foundation for profitable farming. There are many things that can be wrong with soil (eg. poor nutrition, chemical imbalance, structural problems such as drainage, lack of microbial life etc). Often minor and relatively inexpensive treatments can make a huge difference to productivity, but the problems need to be identified first, and that requires a solid understanding of soil theory and management practice.

There are 8 lessons in this course:

Introduction: Soils And Soil Classification
- Soil health and Agricultural soils
- What is soil health?
- Soil Composition and Formation
- Classifying Soil Groups and Soil Landscapes
- Soil Profiles
- Soil Horizons
- Key Properties of Selected Soil Groups
- Parent Materials
- Classifying Soils According to Hydrological Properties
- Soil hydrology Groups: Uniform Coarse-textured Soils, Permeability Contrast Soils; Cracking Clays; Medium to Fine Textured soils
Properties of Soils and Plant Nutrition
- Understanding Soils
- Mineral and Rock
- How Soils Develop Naturally
- Mechanical Weathering
- Chemical Weathering
- Geo-chemical Weathering Processes
- Pedo-chemical Weathering
- Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition
- Organic Carbon
- Soil Colour
- Texture and its Effect on Plant Growth
- Structure and its Effect on Plant Growth
- Consistence and its Effect on Plant Growth
- Depth of Profile and how it Relates to Plant Growth
- PH and Plant Growth
- Porosity and Plant Growth
- Plant Nutrition and Nutrient Toxicity
Soil Testing Methods
- Tilth and Organic Matter
- Soil Sampling for Chemical Analysis
- General Principles of Soil Analysis
- Tools for Field Sampling and Soil Investigation
- Digging a Sample Pit or Hole
- Finding Out about your Soil
- Settlement Activity
- Soil Structure Activity
- Recording Soil Colour
- Testing Consistence
- Describing Texture
- Test for Free Carbonates
- Soil pH Testing
- Stability of Clods to Wetting (Slaking and Dispersion)
- Bulk Density Testing
- Measurement of Organic Matter Content of Soil
- Measuring Salinity
- Measuring Water Content
- Fertiliser Solubility
- Affect of Lime on Soil
- Laboratory Testing of Soils
Land Degradation and Other Soil Problems
- Soil Structure Decline
- Water Repellence
- Erosion
- Hard-Layers in Soils
- Transient Bonding; Compaction; Cementation; and Natural Rigidity
- Sub-Soil Compaction: Compression, shearing and smearing
- Soil Acidification
- Alkalinity and Sodicity
- Water-logging
- Salinity
- Chemical Residues
Soil Management on Farms
- Conservation Farming
- No-Tillage (Zero tillage)
- Minimum Tillage
- Trap Cropping
- Cover Crops and Green Manure Cropping
- Alley Farming (AF)
- Contour Farming and Strip Farming
- Controlled Traffic Farming
- Stubble Management
- Establishing Water and Nutrient Management Plans
- Soil Conservation Earthworks
- Integrated Pest Management
- Direct Drilling in Pasture Establishment
- Soil Management in Orchards
- Soil Management in Market Gardens
Crops: Soil and Nutrient Requirements (Part A)
- Wheat
- Oat
- Barley
Crops: Soil and Nutrient Requirements (Part B)
- Narrow-Leafed Lupins
- Canola
- Faba Beans
- Grapes
PBL Soil project - Soil Investigation and Report
- Aim is to:
- evaluate a range of soils for a given situation
- determine soil problems or limitations that exist for a given land use
- decide on suitable soil management strategies for the selected land
- prepare and present a report

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

For more information on this course, please request your free course information pack.