Kicking Off

When I left teaching soil science in 1980 to become a church pastor I thought I that would probably be the end of talking to people about podzols and cation exchange capacity and the like.

But how mistaken I was. Sure enough, for nearly thirty years my love of the soil was pretty much kept under wraps. I enjoyed dabbling in my vegetable garden, but beyond that seldom thought much about the world of soil science that had absorbed me for 12 years as a student and then researcher and teacher at Lincoln College (now Lincoln University).

All that changed a little over two years ago when I moved to Wyndham, a rural town in the south of New Zealand, to pastor the Wyndham Evangelical Church. I found myself again in a farming community, and it wasn't long before farmers started asking questions about their soils. I was quick to point out (a) the theoretical character of my background in the subject, and (b) the long time I had been away from the world of soils. That didn't deter them - they persisted in wanting me to help them. Terms like CEC and base saturation % on their soil test results befuddled them, and at least I could help them with that.

Before long I found the opportunities expanding. My research and teaching work at Lincoln had given me a good grasp of almost every aspect of soils, and with a bit of freshening up, I was soon at home helping farmers discover what soils they had on their properties and their natural strengths and weaknesses. Seeing the interest I was bold enough to advertise a couple of seminars - a one-off event featuring my farm coach/consultant brother Peter on Sustainable Agriculture, and a series of three talks I gave on "Knowing Your Soils."

The attendance at these events was a bit overwhelming. About 50 attended the Sustainability seminar, and more than that the Know Your Soils talks. Clearly there is a hunger among farmers to learn more about their soils - and especially from the angle that both my brother Pete and I come from.

We are both interested in soil health and sustainability, not just in soil productivity. Soils are living bodies with distinct characteristics and active processes. Using them well depends on knowing those characteristics and processes and working with them. Most of the time the information involved is not that complicated. Where it is, it can still be made pretty clear for anyone.

And that's what I'm keen to do - help farmers and other soil users understand the soils they are working with. The key to sustainable soil use, in my view, is to empower soil users themselves through education and information so they can treat their soils well. There are others who are trying to do this - probably far better than I can. But I'm aware that I've been given a talent (immersion in the world of soil science for more than 10 years) and a passion (a love for the soil and concern to see it wisely used and protected) that need to be expressed. Creating this blog site is a way I can do this.

Most of what I write will be gleaned from what I've learned in the past and read now. I'm happy to have people ask questions and raise issues. If I can help I will; if I can't, I'll be quick to let you know.

Join with me in the adventure of learning more about the wonderful soil that we depend so much upon.

Andrew Young (B.Ag.Sci.(Hons), PhD)