Worming their way into soil's favour

Emeritus Professor Lex Parker of the University of Western Australia says worms, ants and other soil animals could have a major role in combating soil degradation on Australian farms. Wheeled implements had compacted many agricultural soils to a depth of 30cm or more, but their worm holes went deeper. Results have shown that the presence of soil animal holes had a dramatic effect on water penetration. At Lake Carmody, it was shown that water penetration was 13 times slower on cultivated land compared to virgin land. Professor Parker suggested that in the Western Australian wheatbelt conditions, termites could be even more important that worms as soil renovators. PLEASE NOTE: We are unable to provide a public view of this newspaper article as the copyright is held by the publisher of The Countryman. If you would like to obtain a copy of this newspaper article for research purposes, please ‘request a copy'. This article is part of the WISALTS (Whittington Interceptor Sustainable Agriculture Land Treatment Society Incorporated) Collection