This report to the Prime Minister was written by Major General the Honourable Michael Jeffery, “The National Soil Advocate” in December 2017.
In the report, Major General Jeffrey advocates for our water, soil and vegetation assets to be declared as key national, natural strategic assets, to be managed accordingly and in an integrated way.
He brings together the ideas gathered during his consultations as the National Soil Advocate to make 10 recommendations (summarised below) to protect and improve the health of Australia’s soil, water and vegetation for the benefit of all Australians:
- Agree to a National Soils Policy, with a coordinated and integrated approach involving the portfolios for agriculture, environment, health, education, defence, Australian Aid, Indigenous affairs, regional development and industry
- Establish a permanent role for the National Soil Advocate as an independent advocate for the importance of soil and the agricultural sector
- Establish a long term, permanent soil, water, vegetation and agricultural knowledge program that encourages collaboration between scientists and successful farmers to build and share knowledge about leading regenerative land management practices
- Ask the Rural Research and Development Corporations to direct funds to expand the work on extension
- Increase the funds available through the National Landcare Programme to encourage more farmers to adopt regenerative land management practices
- Ask Rural Research and Development Corporations to direct a proportion of their research funds to improve understanding of the plant and soil microbiome processes underlying regenerative farming practices
- Have federal, state and territory governments and the CRC for High Performance Soils agree to contribute funding or in-kind support for an Australian National Soil Information Facility
- Task The National Soil Network with developing recommendations for national adoption of the Soil Science Teaching Principles
- Through the Deans of Agriculture, stocktake and where appropriate, improve government owned extension service capacity to guarantee timely, accurate and transparent information delivery to farmers
- Agree to the preparation of an annual alert report to the Australian Government on the global soil, water and food situation from an Australian perspective.
