Soil Management BAG103

Become an expert managing your soil Soil is the foundation for profitable farming. There can be many problems with soil, including: poor nutrition, chemical imbalance, structural problems such as drainage and a lack of microbial life. Minor and relatively inexpensive treatments can improve productivity. You will learn about soil properties and requirements in agriculture, and the skills to apply that knowledge at management level COURSE STRUCTURE There are 8 lessons as follows:

1. Physical & Chemical Properties Of Soils
2. Soil Testing Methods
3. Sustainable Soil Management
4. Soils & Managing Earthworks
5. Land Degradation & Other Soil Problems
6. Container Growing
7. Soil Science & Health
8. Soil Management

WHAT YOU MAY DO IN THIS COURSE

• Define terms related to the production and management of agricultural soil, such as ? manure, micorrhyzae, ameliorant, pore space, micro-nutrient, denitrification, ammonium fixation, chemo autrophic organisms, colloids, buffering capacity, leaching, compaction.
• Create a compost heap;
• Discuss ways that human activity can destroy soil structure;
• Explain how pH affects nutrient availability;
• Explain the function of different nutrients in soils/growing media, such at nitrogen and phosphorus;
• Analyse a soil test report in order to evaluate the soil for horticultural or agricultural use;
• Describe appropriate soil testing methods for different situations;
• Compare the use of organic and inorganic fertilisers in different situations;
• Develop a detailed nutritional management plan for a particular crop, following organic principles;
• Identify suitable earth moving equipment for different tasks, and the conditions of use;
• Explain various methods for assessing drainage at a site;
• Evaluate the use of earthworks to refurbish or improve a specific site;
• Research Environmental Protection Agency (or equivalent) recommendations for cleaning up chemical spills and for disposing of old household chemicals and their containers;
• Discuss advantages and problems of importing soil from elsewhere for crop production;
• Explain appropriate methods of stabiliising an unstable or erosion-prone slope;
• Remove a soil profile, describe the different soil layers, and compare the effects of different soil treatments on the soil profile;
• Report on prevention and control methods for soil degradation, and development of sustainable soil management practices in a case study.

SOIL/MEDIA COLLECTION You are required to prepare a soil/media collection which will include:

• 10 different samples
• the name of each sample
• the source / place where you collected sample
• a history of each sample
• the pH of each sample
• a description of the physical characteristics of each sample
• a list of natural or existing vegetation from where each sample was taken.