Soil and irrigation research in Canterbury

A one-day workshop, with 58 participants (Appendix) and sponsored by the New Zealand Society of Soil Science, was held at Lincoln on Thursday 1st March 2012. The aims of the workshop were: To current research and opportunities for future soils research with respect to irrigation in Canterbury To bring soils researchers and industry representatives with irrigation expertise together to enable networking discussions. During the day there were 27 presentations, each of 5 minutes duration, organised into three themes: How can we tailor irrigation schemes to land/soil resources? Do we have the knowhow to conduct on-farm irrigation sustainably? Do we understand the soil processes to allow sustainable land management under irrigation? The large number of presentations highlighted that there is a good level of active soil research related to irrigation, across a range of organisations. There is also breadth in this research, ranging from landscape-scale analyses of irrigation schemes, to paddock-scale management technologies, down to processes driving nitrogen and microbe leaching. Following each presentation theme there was a discussion forum to identify the general state of knowledge, with topics assigned to one of three categories: agreed, debated, and gaps. All results are presented in this report. Overall participants agreed most about the current knowledge status in themes two and three, with considerably less agreement about current knowledge at the landscape scale (theme one). Greatest debate took place within themes one & two, with a lot of research gaps identified across all three themes. Some of the knowledge gaps that were repeatedly identified included: There is still a need to better understand the fate of both water and nutrients in the environment. Our current knowledge of shallow and stony soils commonly was considered inadequate. There is a need for improved understanding of soil physical changes under irrigated conditions. Systems modeling was seen as important and a number of opportunities identified, but it was recognised that there were a number of areas where the current models needed to be refined. We need to further improve our knowledge of soil water relations (and associated function) to tailor irrigation schemes to specific soil and land resources. We need to find ways to improve how we feed science into policy. Extension of existing research knowledge was also commonly identified as a general gap. At the end of the workshop the participants were asked to fill out a survey of current and desired professional interactions, with a social networks analysis of this survey presented at the end of this report. This analysis shows there is a high level of existing professional networking, but only a smaller group that had previously interacted in co-authoring of scientific papers, which probably reflects both the breadth of research disciplines as well as the good turnout of non-scientist participants. Overall, feedback from the participants was very positive and encouraging and all agreed that the aims of the workshop had been met. One of the most positive outcomes was that there was a high desire for new professional interactions, and participants wanted to see the workshop repeated in the future. We recommend that given the rapid rate of change in Canterbury irrigation that a repeat workshop is held in 1–2 years’ time. A worthwhile initiative would be to hold a pan agency collaboration initiative in late 2012 / early 2013 where opportunities for collaborative projects could be identified, prior to the 2013–14 financial year. For the Crown Research agencies, this report should be presented to those involved in the Soil Land Use Alliance (SLUA) initiative, which is aiming to co-ordinate research and funding applications across the different agencies. A one-day workshop, with 58 participants (Appendix) and sponsored by the New Zealand Society of Soil Science, was held at Lincoln on Thursday 1st March 2012. The aims of the workshop were: To current research and opportunities for future soils research with respect to irrigation in Canterbury To bring soils researchers and industry representatives with irrigation expertise together to enable networking discussions. During the day there were 27 presentations, each of 5 minutes duration, organised into three themes: How can we tailor irrigation schemes to land/soil resources? Do we have the knowhow to conduct on-farm irrigation sustainably? Do we understand the soil processes to allow sustainable land management under irrigation? The large number of presentations highlighted that there is a good level of active soil research related to irrigation, across a range of organisations. There is also breadth in this research, ranging from landscape-scale analyses of irrigation schemes, to paddock-scale management technologies, down to processes driving nitrogen and microbe leaching. Following each presentation theme there was a discussion forum to identify the general state of knowledge, with topics assigned to one of three categories: agreed, debated, and gaps. All results are presented in this report. Overall participants agreed most about the current knowledge status in themes two and three, with considerably less agreement about current knowledge at the landscape scale (theme one). Greatest debate took place within themes one & two, with a lot of research gaps identified across all three themes. Some of the knowledge gaps that were repeatedly identified included: There is still a need to better understand the fate of both water and nutrients in the environment. Our current knowledge of shallow and stony soils commonly was considered inadequate. There is a need for improved understanding of soil physical changes under irrigated conditions. Systems modeling was seen as important and a number of opportunities identified, but it was recognised that there were a number of areas where the current models needed to be refined. We need to further improve our knowledge of soil water relations (and associated function) to tailor irrigation schemes to specific soil and land resources. We need to find ways to improve how we feed science into policy. Extension of existing research knowledge was also commonly identified as a general gap. At the end of the workshop the participants were asked to fill out a survey of current and desired professional interactions, with a social networks analysis of this survey presented at the end of this report. This analysis shows there is a high level of existing professional networking, but only a smaller group that had previously interacted in co-authoring of scientific papers, which probably reflects both the breadth of research disciplines as well as the good turnout of non-scientist participants. Overall, feedback from the participants was very positive and encouraging and all agreed that the aims of the workshop had been met. One of the most positive outcomes was that there was a high desire for new professional interactions, and participants wanted to see the workshop repeated in the future. We recommend that given the rapid rate of change in Canterbury irrigation that a repeat workshop is held in 1–2 years’ time. A worthwhile initiative would be to hold a pan agency collaboration initiative in late 2012 / early 2013 where opportunities for collaborative projects could be identified, prior to the 2013–14 financial year. For the Crown Research agencies, this report should be presented to those involved in the Soil Land Use Alliance (SLUA) initiative, which is aiming to co-ordinate research and funding applications across the different agencies.The slide presentations are also available