Stocktake of Australia's investment in soils research, development and extension

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Executive summary

A cross-sector soils RD&E strategy?

The Primary Industries Standing Committee is overseeing the development of a National Primary Industries Research, Development and Extension Framework to guide future research in fourteen industry and seven cross-industry sectors. The aim of the Framework is to ensure that Australia’s approximately $1.6 billion annual RD&E investment in primary industries is focused and used efficiently, effectively and collaboratively. This stocktake provides some of the information needed for a proposal for a cross-sector soils RD&E strategy, which it is hoped, will become part of the Framework.

The preparation of this report has been led by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, with the support of a Soils RD& Working Group, which includes representation from most states/territories, CSIRO, the university sector and several rural research and development corporations.

Soils RD&E results are needed for better evidence based decisions

Australia’s soils are a major national asset underpinning our agricultural productivity and ability to be a net exporter of food valued at $23 billion (DAFF 2009). Assets need maintenance. Australian agriculture’s capacity to increase total factor productivity to help meet the 70 percent increase in world food demand anticipated by 2050 (CSIRO 2010), whilst managing for climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, will depend heavily on managing and manipulating the soil resource base.

The key challenges are to improve water use (including soil water) and management, and to tackle the problem of soil nutrition to reduce reliance on the high energy requirements for fertiliser production. Simultaneously, there are expectations that soils will be managed to store more carbon, and that agriculture will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, such as those associated with fertiliser use. At the community level, expectations that agricultural landscapes will deliver high quality ecosystem services, such as clean air and water, healthy soils, food and fibre products and protected biodiversity, are growing. While Australia has some world class soils R&D, the knowledge and information needed to meet these challenges is not currently available.

Stocktake methods

One hundred and twenty stakeholder organisations were invited to provide information on their role, projects, funding, collaborators and human and physical resources, and views on the future for soils RD&E in their organisation. Detailed responses were received from 45 organisations and their data were used to assess investment in soils RD&E for 2010-11 across Australian, state and territory government agencies, tertiary education institutions and the private sector. This assessment was supplemented by information from surveys of consultants and individual soil scientists.

Soils RD&E budgets for 32 research providers totalled $124 million in 2010-11

The soils RD&E budgets of 32 providers totalled $124.3 million in 2010-11; this included $45.6 million from their internal budgets. They reported receiving $74.5 million from external sources for soils RD&E. As soils is a cross sectoral strategy, it is expected that some proportion of the reported funds would also be counted as RD&E expenditure in the beef, cotton, dairy, grains, horticulture, new and emerging industries, sheep and sugar sectoral strategies; their research and development corporations reported providing $24.2 million for soils RD&E in 2010-11.

Twelve funding organisations (including the Australian government and rural research and development corporations) provided $42.4 million for soils RD&E in 2010 -11. It is likely that resources for soils RD&E are being provided from organisations such as mining companies and other private sector organisations not reached by the survey. There may also be more internal redistribution of funding ($4 million was reported) such that the expenditure of one organisation is the revenue of another.

The largest expenditure of research funds (42.2 percent) was reported by state/territory agencies; this was almost matched by tertiary education institutions (41.9 percent). RD&E providers in Victoria spent the most (27.6 percent), followed by 21.5 percent in New South Wales, 15.9 percent nationally, 14.1 percent in Queensland, 10 percent in Western Australia and 6 percent in South Australia. The total soils RD&E budgets of providers in the Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and Tasmania were each less than 3 percent of the total expenditure reported by research providers.

Trends in the availability of funds for soils RD&E

Most tertiary education institutions indicated that funding for soils RD&E had increased over the last 5-10 years, and that they expected this trend to continue. One state/territory agency reported little change, but most (and CSIRO) reported a decline in resources. Changes in government policies which impacted on the sources and levels of funding and funding priorities were cited by many respondents as a major factor affecting resource availability.

Soil chemistry and soil carbon sequestration are major areas of expenditure

Examination of expenditure against the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC) fields of interest for soils RD&E shows that expenditure was greatest for Soil chemistry, followed by Soil Carbon Sequestration, Agricultural Land Management, Soil and Land Inventory, Soil Biology, Land Capability and Soil Degradation and Soil Physics. Other than Soil Physics, the table shows that there was a reasonably solid spread of expenditure across the fields.

The table opposite shows how the soils RD&E providers’ budgets were spent.

*Numbers rounded

Human resources – an estimated 1000+ FTEs available to soils RD&E

Australia’s soils RD&E capability totals 847 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) including post graduates), with the majority at the professional scientist level. Some of these FTEs will also have been counted in the sectoral strategies already prepared; for example, the grains strategy capability assessment includes 46 soil scientist FTEs.

The soil scientists’ survey indicates that about 19 percent are aged 35 or younger. It is estimated that there are also around 230 consultants contributing to soils RD&E. Comparison of budgets for soils RD&E with staff numbers suggests that not all soils FTEs are currently employed on soils projects. The distribution of soils FTEs across employer types is shown in the table below.

Infrastructure investment is significant

There is significant investment in long term field sites, field/research stations, laboratories and sophisticated analytical equipment by Australian government, state/territory and tertiary institution RD&E providers. There are around 27 field stations, half operated by state/territory agencies and half by tertiary institutions, and an estimated 40 laboratories; 8 operated by Australian government RD&E providers, 16 by state/territory agencies and 16 by tertiary education institutions.

Gaps in soils RD&E effort identified

The Working Group, after discussing the likely policy drivers for investment in soils RD&E for the next 5-10 years, reviewed the information on projects underway in 2010-11 for each ANZSRC field, and identified potential gaps. It was agreed that this was a preliminary assessment, and that extensive consultation is required to ensure that all stakeholders’ priorities have been considered.

Opportunities for improving the effectiveness of soils RD&E investments

The Working Group identified the following opportunities for improving the effectiveness of soils RD&E which should be pursued jointly with other industry sector stakeholders in the soils RD&E process.

• a cross sectoral soils RD&E co-investment process
• more collaborative use of the physical infrastructure
• an effective national soils data infrastructure, including a networked soils archive, better access to existing information and a national cooperative soil survey program
• agreed organisations’ roles and responsibilities in the soils RD&E sector
• extension opportunities, especially more direct engagement with consultants
• an increase in training and education.

Conclusions – need for a cross sector soils RD&E strategy

The findings of the stocktake present a clear picture of significant RD&E activity that is complex and changing, but is in general, largely uncoordinated. Soils RD&E capability (FTEs) and research provider expenditure is substantially greater than for most primary industry sectors except grains. The Working Group noted the complexity of the soils RD&E sector and the sensitivity of funding arrangements to government budgetary pressures and changes in policies and programs. This sensitivity is all the more acute because soils RD&E is seen as enabling, rather than providing direct and immediately captured benefits to a particular industry or interest group.

The findings also indicate that the cross sectoral nature of soils RD&E has resulted in insufficient attention being given to developing shared research priorities to make the most of available resources, to providing funding and the security needed to develop and protect the national soils data and physical infrastructures, and to ensuring that our soils RD&E capability has the multi disciplinary skills base needed to meet future challenges. A cross sector soils RD&E strategy could address these shortcomings and, most importantly, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of soils RD&E in Australia in addressing a range of important policy issues.