Soil Management

Overview

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 drainahe, lack of microbial life etc). Often minor and releatively inexpensive treatments can improve productivity. 

Aims of the Soil Management course from Warnborough College

• 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;