Building Drought Resilience Through Soil Health - Queensland Trial

At the end of 2020, Justine and Matt McLeod’s property, Lake Pleasant became the home of a large-scale soil experiment that hopes to change the future of farming by focusing on drought resilience. Experimenting with 96 plots, the trial is monitoring the impact of different rates of organic changes, fertilisers and plant species by tracking soil health, water efficiency, plant health, yield and profitability. Through this monitoring, the experiment will compare the profitability of conventional and regenerative farming methods while also measuring the changes in soil health and yield. Ultimatlely the trial hopes to find solutions that decrease reliance on water and artificial inputs while sustaining profits. The Future Drought Fund project was funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.