Agriculture from the Ground Up

Leonie
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Agriculture from the Ground Up is a practical podcast that helps farmers, advisors, students, agronomists and anyone in agriculture build on to the knowledge they already have; from soils and nutrition to cropping, livestock, economics and decision-making, so that you can fuse it all together into even better, more confident and more profitable farming. As an agriculture educator and perennial student, I want to help you fill those hidden gaps so you can make better decisions and grow a more resilient, profitable business.

  1. Oct 28 ·  Video

    Episode 20: Sowing Next to Last Year’s Row: Margaret Roper on Water Repellency, Part 2

    Send us Fan Mail Water repellent soil sheds the first rain, but right along last year’s crop row, the water disappears straight in. In part two of my conversation with Dr Margaret Roper, we look at how farmers turned that observation into near-row sowing, what the research found when it was tested, and the questions that are still open. Margaret also shares what she’d most like every farmer to know about working with water repellency rather than against it. In this episode: How near-row sowing started with farmers, and what the trials showed: more wax-degrading bacteria, more wettable soil and more consistent crop growth, though not a yield gain every seasonWhy the repellent soil between the rows may actually help, by reducing evaporation, and how it may cut weed numbersThe disease question, and what early South Australian research suggests about disease being present in the root zone without being expressedPractical ways farmers set up near-row sowing, including one farmer who sows either side of a central line each yearWhy dry sowing can make repellent soil more repellent, and the lab experiment that showed itWhat we still don’t know about wetting agents and their effect on soil microbesHow claying, delving and spading compare for repellency, and Margaret’s concerns about organic matterMargaret’s biggest research surprise, about no-till and rhizoctoniaHer advice to scientists starting out: get out of the lab and talk to farmersIf you missed part one, start there to hear how Margaret found the bacteria that break down the waxes. Thank you to Williams Woolshed in Williams and Naked Bean Coffee Roasters in Albany. Connect with Leonie Instagram: @agfromthegroundup Website: www.agriculturefromthegroundup.com.au Connect with Leonie Instagram: @agfromthegroundup Website: www.agriculturefromthegroundup.com.au

  2. Oct 20 ·  Video

    Episode 19: Non-Wetting Soils. Why Water Beads Off Your Soil, with Dr Margaret Roper (Part 1)

    Send us Fan Mail If you farm sand, you probably know the feeling. The rain finally arrives, and instead of soaking in, it beads up and runs off, leaving dry soil just below the surface. Last episode, we looked at what water repellency is and why it’s such a stubborn problem for so many of us. Today, we go deeper with someone who has spent much of her career working on it. Dr Margaret Roper is a soil microbiologist who worked with CSIRO in Perth from the 1990s. She identified bacteria that can break down the waxes that make soil repellent to water, went on to show that lime can boost these bacteria, and helped lead research into how old root channels act as tiny pathways for water. These are practical ideas that came from careful science in WA paddocks. In part one of this two-part chat, Margaret shares: How a call from Neil Turner started her on water repellency, and where the waxes in sandy soil actually come fromHow she isolated wax-degrading actinobacteria, and why inoculating them in the field didn’t deliver the jackpot she’d hoped forWhy encouraging the soil’s own microbes with food, water and calcium is the more practical pathWhat happened when lime was applied: faster wetting at the break of season, plus more wax-degrading bacteriaHow clay fits in, and why she’d still advocate it if you can afford itWhat a 10-year no-till and stubble retention trial at Mumbled up revealed about root channels, ground cover and water movementWhy rebuilding organic matter in sandy soils is such a slow processMargaret also asked us to acknowledge GRDC, CSIRO, DPIRD and SARDI-PIRSA for funding. The research group at CSIRO included Researcher Phil Ward and Technicians Angela Keulen, Shayne Micin, Cindy Myers and Ramona Kerr. There were extensive collaborations with Stephen Davies and others at DPIRD, Nigel Wilhelm and Terry Blacker and others at SARDI-PIRSA in South Australia. In particular, she also acknowledges the many farmers who hosted her and her teams field trials and undertook seeding and crop maintenance at field sites at Pingrup, Calingiri, south Stirlings and on the south coast of WA, and on the Eyre Peninsular in South Australia.   A personal note from Leonie: her latest research paper, on root growth, productivity and soil organic carbon after deep spading sandy soils that were clay ameliorated years before, has just been published. The link is in the show notes. Join us next week for part two. Thanks to Williams Woolshed in Williams and Naked Bean Coffee Roasters in Albany for supporting the show. Reference List Roper, M. M. (2004). The isolation and characterisation of bacteria with the potential to degrade waxes that cause water repellency in sandy soils. Australian Journal of Soil Research, 42(4), 427–434. https://doi.org/10.1071/SR03153 Roper, M. M. (2005). Managing soils to enhance the potential for bioremediation of water repellency. Australian Journal of Soil Research, 43(7), 803–810. https://doi.org/10.1071/SR05061 Roper, M. M., Davies, S. L., Blackwell, P. S., Hall, D. J. M., Bakker, D. M., Jongepier, R., & Ward, P. R. (2015). Management options for water-repellent soils in Australian dryland agriculture. Soil Research, 53(7), 786–806. https://doi.org/10.1071/SR14330 Roper, M. M., & Gupta, V. V. S. R. (2005). Enumeration of wax-degrading microorganisms in water repellent soils using a miniaturised Most-Probable-Number method. Australian Journal of Soil Research, 43(2), 171–177. https://doi.org/10.1071/SR04114 Roper, M. M., Kerr, R., Ward, P. R., Micin, S. F., & Krishnamurthy, P. (2021). Changes in soil properties and crop performance on stubble-burned and cultivated water repellent soils can take many years following reversion to no-till and stubble retention. Geoderma, 402, Article 115361. Roper, M. M., Ward, P. R., Betti, G., Davies, S. L., Wilhelm, N., Kerr, R., Micin, S. F., & Blacker, T. (2022). Seeding next to previous year’s crop row (near-row sowing) can increase grain yields on water repellent soils. Soil Research, 60(4), 360–372. https://doi.org/10.1071/SR21142 Roper, M. M., Ward, P. R., Keulen, A. F., & Hill, J. R. (2013). Under no-tillage and stubble retention, soil water content and crop growth are poorly related to soil water repellency. Soil and Tillage Research, 126, 143–150. Smith, L. J., Edwards, T. J., Arthur, B., Butler, A., & Hall, D. J. M. (2026). Overcoming constraints with deep spading on previously ameliorated soils: Enhanced root growth and productivity and the distribution of soil organic carbon on 13-year-old clay-ameliorated sands. Agronomy, 16(20), Article 2030. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy16202030 Connect with Leonie Instagram: @agfromthegroundup Website: www.agriculturefromthegroundup.com.au

  3. Oct 13 ·  Video

    Episode 18: Non-Wetting Soils. The Hidden Profit Killer

    Send us Fan Mail You walk the paddock three weeks after seeding. The rows are patchy. You had rain. You watched it fall. Five centimetres down, the soil is still dust dry. The rain did not fail. The soil refused it. In Western Australia, 10.2 million hectares are at risk of soil water repellence (3.3 million at high risk) at an estimated cost of $250–330 million a year. This episode of Agriculture From the Ground Up covers: the chemistry: polar water, hydrophobic waxes, and molecules that flip from water-loving to water-fearing when the soil dries and heatswhy sands get hit first (not enough surface area to dilute the wax), and why high-OM, high-rainfall clays can get it toopalmitic acid and the molecular work coming out of Professor David Henry’s team at Murdochthe unfair twist: the same organic matter that builds CEC and holds water also produces the waxeswhy it is getting worse — dry sowing, min-till stratification, summer heat, disturbing dry soil, and acidityMargaret Roper’s finding that lime can lift wax-degrading bacteria about ten-foldhow to diagnose it without treating a blocked boot: droplet test, MED test, and why you scrape the top 5 mmthree responses: mitigate, ameliorate, or stop cropping itcheap and broad first (furrow sowing, old rows, banded wetters), expensive and targeted second (inversion, mixing, clay, stacked with lime)when perennial pasture on marginal sand is the business decision, not a failureOne sentence: the money in non-wetting soils is made in the diagnosis and the sequencing, not in the product you buy afterwards. Thanks to Williams Woolshed in Williams and Naked Bean Coffee Roasters in Albany. Reference List Davies, S., Fisher, J., Roper, M., & Murphy, D. (2022). Soil quality: 7 Soil water repellence. SoilsWest, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. https://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/sq_ebooks/9/ DeBano, L. F. (2000). The role of fire and soil heating on water repellency in wildland environments: A review. Journal of Hydrology, 231–232, 195–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(00)00194-3 GRDC GroundCover. (2024, June 18). Insights to inform water-repellent soil management. https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/agronomy/soil-and-nutrition/insights-to-inform-water-repellent-soil-management Henry, D. J. (2025). Insights to inform water-repellent soil management. In GRDC GroundCover. Murdoch University / GRDC. https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/agronomy/soil-and-nutrition/insights-to-inform-water-repellent-soil-management King, P. M. (1981). Comparison of methods for measuring severity of water repellence of sandy soils and assessment of some factors that affect its measurement. Australian Journal of Soil Research, 19(3), 275–285. https://doi.org/10.1071/SR9810275 Pluske, W., Boggs, G., & Leopold, M. (2018). Soil quality: 2 Integrated soil management. SoilsWest. Roper, M. M. (2005). Managing soils to enhance the potential for bioremediation of water repellency. Australian Journal of Soil Research, 43(8), 803–810. https://doi.org/10.1071/SR05061 Roper, M. M., Davies, S. L., Blackwell, P. S., Hall, D. J. M., Bakker, D., Jongepier, R., & Ward, P. R. (2015). Management options for water-repellent soils in Australian dryland agriculture. Soil Research, 53(7), 786–806. https://doi.org/10.1071/SR14330 Roper, M. M., Ward, P. R., Kerr, R., & Micin, S. F. (2026). Sowing crops into dry water-repellent soils can increase the severity of repellency and reduce crop performance. Soil Research. https://doi.org/10.1071/SR24147 Song, E., Dickey, J., & Fidanza, M. (2019). Influence of repeated application of wetting agents on soil water repellency and microbial community. Sustainability, 11(16), 4505. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11164505 Stuart-Street, A., Short, N., Galloway, P., & Schoknecht, N. (2025). A simple guide for describing soils (2nd ed.). Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. Related GRDC investment: Development of soil water repellency management options for Australian grain growers (UMU2501-005RTX), led by Professor David Henry, Murdoch University. Connect with Leonie Instagram: @agfromthegroundup Website: www.agriculturefromthegroundup.com.au

  4. Oct 6 ·  Video

    Episode 17: The Great Connector. What Soil Organic Matter Actually Does

    Send us Fan Mail Organic matter has been turning up all through this series; as most of the CEC on a sand, as the waxes behind non-wetting, as part of why pH keeps moving. This episode puts it in one place. Soil organic matter is not just carbon. It is living organisms, fresh residues and stable humus. Labs usually report the carbon slice, about 58 percent of the whole, which is why we multiply by 1.72 to estimate organic matter. Three fractions do different jobs: labile material feeds microbes and cycles fast; an intermediate pool sits in aggregates; recalcitrant humus is the long-term warehouse for CEC, water and structure. Six functions sit on that one property: cation exchange, microbial fuel, water holding, aggregate stability, a slow-release store of N, P and S, and a messy relationship with water repellence. On WA sandplain, totals of 0.5 to 1.5 percent organic carbon are common. Geology started us low. Hot summers and a century of tillage and export have kept us there. Low CEC then makes it harder to hang on to any carbon we add. A single test is a snapshot. A ten-year trend is the number that matters. Carbon farming and how you actually build this pool get their own block later. Today is the map. References are in the episode notes. Thank you to Williams Woolshed in Williams and Naked Bean Coffee Roasters in Albany. References  Carson, J. (n.d.). Soil biological fertility. soilquality.org.au. https://www.soilquality.org.au/factsheets/soil-biological-fertility Davies, S., Fisher, J., Roper, M., & Murphy, D. (2022). Soil quality: 7. Soil water repellence. SoilsWest / Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. DeBano, L. F. (2000). Water repellency in soils: A historical overview. Journal of Hydrology, 231–232, 4–32. Grace, P. R., Ladd, J. N., Robertson, G. P., & Gage, S. H. (2006). SOCRATES — A simple model for predicting long-term changes in soil organic carbon in terrestrial ecosystems. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 38(5), 1172–1176. Helling, C. S., Chesters, G., & Corey, R. B. (1964). Contribution of organic matter and clay to soil cation-exchange capacity as affected by the pH of the saturating solution. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings, 28(4), 517–520. Hoyle, F. C., D’Angelo, M., & Murphy, D. V. (2011). Soil organic carbon content and composition under contrasting grain cropping systems in a semi-arid environment. Soil and Tillage Research, 113(2), 104–109. Hoyle, F. C., & Murphy, D. V. (Eds.). (2017). Soil quality: 1. Constraints to plant production. SoilsWest / DPIRD. https://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/sq_ebooks/1/ McKenzie, N., Jacquier, D., Isbell, R., & Brown, K. (2004). Australian soils and landscapes: An illustrated compendium. CSIRO Publishing. Quinlan, R., & Wherrett, A. (n.d.). Nitrogen: Western Australia. soilquality.org.au. https://www.soilquality.org.au/factsheets/mineral-nitrogen Weil, R. R., & Brady, N. C. (2016). The nature and properties of soils (15th ed.). Pearson. Williams, C. H., & Donald, C. M. (1957). Changes in organic matter and pH in a podzolic soil as influenced by subterranean clover and superphosphate. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, 8(2), 179–189. Connect with Leonie Instagram: @agfromthegroundup Website: www.agriculturefromthegroundup.com.au

  5. Sep 29 ·  Video

    Episode 16: Why Some Soils Hold Onto Nutrients (and Others Just Don’t): Cation Exchange Capacity

    Send us Fan Mail Last episode we talked about pH, and I said buffering would come back properly. Today is that episode. Cation exchange capacity (CEC) is the reason some paddocks hold onto calcium, magnesium, potassium and ammonium, and others leak them with the next decent rain. It is also a big part of why two paddocks with similar fertiliser bills can perform so differently. In this episode of Agriculture From the Ground Up we cover: what CEC actually is, using a simple car-park picture for exchange sitesthe base cations, plus ammonium, hydrogen, aluminium and manganesewhy “CEC by bases” and effective CEC (ECEC) are not the same numberhow labs measure it, and why gravelly country can look better on paper than it is in the paddockwhat the units mean and why WA sands sit so lowwhy organic matter can supply up to 85 per cent of CEC on sandy topsoilsthe awkward loop: low CEC makes it harder to keep the carbon you are trying to addhow CEC changes down a duplex profilethe pH link: low CEC means poor buffering and faster acidificationwhy nitrate leaching also drags base cations with itthe myth of the perfect calcium-to-magnesium ratiowhat to actually do with a CEC result on farmWe flag threads we will pick up later in the series (nitrogen, soil organic carbon, clay, and water holding) rather than trying to finish those stories today. Thanks to Williams Woolshed in Williams and Naked Bean Coffee Roasters in Albany. Reference list Brown, K., & Lemon, J. (n.d.). Cations and cation exchange capacity. soilquality.org.au. https://www.soilquality.org.au/factsheets/cation-exchange-capacity Cornell University Cooperative Extension. (2007). Cation exchange capacity (CEC) (Agronomy Fact Sheet Series No. 22). Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University. Grace, P. R., Ladd, J. N., Robertson, G. P., & Gage, S. H. (2006). SOCRATES — A simple model for predicting long-term changes in soil organic carbon in terrestrial ecosystems. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 38(5), 1172–1176. Hazelton, P. A., & Murphy, B. W. (2007). Interpreting soil test results: What do all the numbers mean? CSIRO Publishing. Helling, C. S., Chesters, G., & Corey, R. B. (1964). Contribution of organic matter and clay to soil cation-exchange capacity as affected by the pH of the saturating solution. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings, 28(4), 517–520. Hoyle, F. C. (n.d.). Managing soil organic matter: A practical guide (GRDC Project Code KDI00023). Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia. Hoyle, F. C., D’Angiolo, M., & Murphy, D. V. (2011). Soil organic carbon content and composition under contrasting grain cropping systems in a semi-arid environment. Soil & Tillage Research, 113(2), 104–109. Lacoste, M., Lawes, R., Ducourtieux, O., & Flower, K. (2016). Comparative agriculture methods capture distinct production practices across a broadacre Australian landscape. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 233, 381–395. McKenzie, N., Jacquier, D., Isbell, R., & Brown, K. (2004). Australian soils and landscapes: An illustrated compendium. CSIRO Publishing. Moore, G., Dolling, P., Porter, B., & Leonard, L. (1998). Soil acidity. In G. Moore (Ed.), Soilguide: A handbook for understanding and managing agricultural soils (Bulletin No. 4343). Agriculture Western Australia. Rayment, G. E., & Higginson, F. R. (1992). Australian laboratory handbook of soil and water chemical methods. Inkata Press. Rengasamy, P., & Churchman, G. J. (1999). Cation exchange capacity, exchangeable cations and sodicity. In K. I. Peverill, L. A. Sparrow, & D. J. Reuter (Eds.), Soil analysis: An interpretation manual. CSIRO Publishing. Roberts, R. P., & Shier, F. L. (1960). The development of Western Australian sand plain soils for agriculture. Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4, 1(10), 855–864. Turpault, M. P., Nys, C., & Calmet, J. P. (2005). Impact of Douglas fir on an acid brown soil in the Morvan, France. Soil Use and Management, 21(1), 6–13. Williams, C. H., & Donald, C. M. (1957). Changes in organic matter and pH in a podzolic soil as influenced by subterranean clover and superphosphate. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, 8(2), 179–189. Connect with Leonie Instagram: @agfromthegroundup Website: www.agriculturefromthegroundup.com.au

  6. Sep 22 ·  Video

    Episode 15: Your pH Is a Rainfall History. Why the Number Sits Where It Sits Part 2

    Send us Fan Mail Last episode we unpacked what pH actually is. This one asks the better question: why is your number the number it is? Drive east out of Perth and the pH climbs as the rainfall drops. That is not a coincidence. Leonie walks through the four drivers of soil pH, parent material, rainfall, time, and management, and why only the last one is in your hands. Ammonium fertiliser and every truckload of produce leaving the farm are both acid programs, whether you meant them to be or not. Then the useful half. Buffering is why a clay shrugs off the same fertiliser program that moves a pale sand a full unit. The nutrient chart is shaped like an hourglass because phosphorus gets locked by iron and aluminium on the acid side and by calcium on the alkaline side. A water pH and a calcium chloride pH are not the same number;  they can differ by nearly a full unit. And an acid result and an alkaline result point you at completely different problems. If the soil is acid: test deeper, look for aluminium, expect potassium to be walking out. If it is alkaline: check traces, check sodicity, check salt, and stop buying lime. References are in the episode notes. Thank you to Williams Woolshed in Williams and Naked Bean Coffee Roasters in Albany. References Brennan, R. F., Bolland, M. D. A., & Ramm, R. D. (2013). Changes in chemical properties of sandy duplex soils in 11 paddocks over 21 years in the low rainfall cropping zone of southwestern Australia. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 44(12), 1885–1908. Davies, S., Fisher, J., Roper, M., & Murphy, D. (2022). Soil quality: 7. Soil water repellence. SoilsWest / Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. Gazey, C., Azam, G., Clausen, J., & Rengel, Z. (2019). Soil quality: 4. Soil acidity. SoilsWest. https://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/sq_ebooks/4/ Hoyle, F. C., & Murphy, D. V. (Eds.). (2017). Soil quality: 1. Constraints to plant production. SoilsWest. McArthur, W. M. (Comp.). (1991). Reference soils of south-western Australia. Australian Society of Soil Science Inc. (WA Branch). McKenzie, N., Jacquier, D., Isbell, R., & Brown, K. (2004). Australian soils and landscapes: An illustrated compendium. CSIRO Publishing. Murphy, B. W. (2015). Impact of soil organic matter on soil properties: A review with emphasis on Australian soils. Soil Research, 53(6), 605–635. Norton, R. (2020). Potassium and sulphur: Emerging deficiencies in the southern region. GRDC Update Papers. Stuart-Street, A., Short, N., Galloway, P., & Schoknecht, N. (2025). A simple guide for describing soils (2nd ed.). Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. Tang, C., Rengel, Z., Diatloff, E., & Gazey, C. (2003). Responses of wheat and barley to liming on a sandy soil with subsoil acidity. Field Crops Research, 80, 235–244. Yeates, J. S., et al. (1984), as cited in McArthur (1991). Connect with Leonie Instagram: @agfromthegroundup Website: www.agriculturefromthegroundup.com.au

  7. Sep 15 ·  Video

    Episode 14: Do You Actually Know What pH Means? The Number on Every Soil Test Part 1

    Send us Fan Mail You already know your pH. It is on every soil test you have ever paid for. This episode is not rates, products or a lime program. It is what that number is actually measuring. Leonie starts with a question most of us cannot answer cleanly: what does pH stand for? There are two answers in common use; potential hydrogen and power of hydrogen, and both are useful. One tells you which ion is winning in the soil water. The other tells you the score is kept in multiples of ten. A drop from 6 to 5 is not “one point.” It is a tenfold increase in hydrogen ions. Then the mechanism. Agricultural lime is calcium carbonate. The part that does the work is the carbonate: it accepts hydrogen ions and turns them into water and carbon dioxide; the same fizz you get in a field acid test, just slowed down over years. The calcium left behind evicts aluminium from the exchange sites, which is often the bigger prize for roots. On some Swan Coastal Plain soils a single application held for about a decade. pH is the master switch sitting upstream of phosphorus, traces, nitrogen cycling, root depth and water repellence. Next episode: why your number sits where it sits, what buffering is, and how to read an acid result differently from an alkaline one. References are in the episode notes. Thank you to Williams Woolshed in Williams and Naked Bean Coffee Roasters in Albany. References Davies, S., Fisher, J., Roper, M., & Murphy, D. (2022). Soil quality: 7. Soil water repellence. SoilsWest / Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. Gazey, C., Azam, G., Clausen, J., & Rengel, Z. (2019). Soil quality: 4. Soil acidity. SoilsWest. https://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/sq_ebooks/4/ McArthur, W. M. (Comp.). (1991). Reference soils of south-western Australia. Australian Society of Soil Science Inc. (WA Branch). McKenzie, N., Jacquier, D., Isbell, R., & Brown, K. (2004). Australian soils and landscapes: An illustrated compendium. CSIRO Publishing. Stuart-Street, A., Short, N., Galloway, P., & Schoknecht, N. (2025). A simple guide for describing soils (2nd ed.). Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. Yeates, J. S., et al. (1984), as cited in McArthur (1991). Connect with Leonie Instagram: @agfromthegroundup Website: www.agriculturefromthegroundup.com.au

  8. Sep 9 ·  Video

    Episode 13: Chemistry Basics Part 2. Chemistry at Work in the Paddock and the Spray Tank

    Send us Fan Mail Part 1 was atoms, charge and the periodic table. This episode puts that chemistry to work in places you already know: soil water, the fertiliser bag, and the spray tank. Leonie starts with a correction from last week: why potassium and calcium skip ahead on the electron shells, and why that is exactly where the transition metals (iron, manganese, zinc, copper) get their name. Then the reactions that actually show up on farm: Solutions: almost nothing useful happens as a dry solid. It happens dissolved in water.Redox: why a waterlogged pit goes grey and rusty orange, and why nitrogen can leave the paddock as a gas.Precipitation: two soluble products meet, make an insoluble solid, and that is both blocked nozzles and phosphorus locked up with calcium, iron or aluminium.Chelation: the “claw” on a fertiliser label (iron EDTA, zinc EDTA) that keeps a micronutrient soluble long enough for the plant to take it.Hard water and glyphosate: calcium and magnesium tying up the herbicide before it reaches the weed.Alkaline hydrolysis: why tank pH matters.Water repellence:  waxy, non-polar coats on sand grains, and why the molarity of ethanol droplet test works.Gamma radiometrics: potassium, uranium and thorium slowly changing under the paddock, and why that signal tracks clay in the top 40 cm.Salinity, heavy metals (including cadmium in some phosphate fertilisers), organic matter and acidity get a short map, then the series moves to pH next. If a section does not land, skip it. The next chemical-property episodes will keep using these ideas. Thanks to Williams Woolshed in Williams and Naked Bean Coffee Roasters in Albany. Reference list Chang, R., & Goldsby, K. A. (2016). Chemistry (12th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. DeBano, L. F. (2000). The role of fire and soil heating on water repellency in wildland environments: A review. Journal of Hydrology, 231–232, 195–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(00)00194-3 Geoscience Australia. (n.d.). Radiometrics. https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/disciplines/geophysics/radiometrics Grains Research and Development Corporation. (n.d.). Using ground-based EM and radiometrics to map soil amelioration. GroundCover. https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/agronomy/soil-and-nutrition/using-ground-based-em-and-radiometrics-to-map-soil-amelioration Kabata-Pendias, A. (2011). Trace elements in soils and plants (4th ed.). CRC Press. King, P. M. (1981). Comparison of methods for measuring severity of water repellence of sandy soils and assessment of some factors that affect its measurement. Australian Journal of Soil Research, 19(3), 275–285. https://doi.org/10.1071/SR9810275 Marschner, P. (Ed.). (2012). Marschner's mineral nutrition of higher plants (3rd ed.). Academic Press. McKenzie, N., Jacquier, D., Isbell, R., & Brown, K. (2004). Australian soils and landscapes: An illustrated compendium. CSIRO Publishing. Connect with Leonie Instagram: @agfromthegroundup Website: www.agriculturefromthegroundup.com.au

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Agriculture from the Ground Up is a practical podcast that helps farmers, advisors, students, agronomists and anyone in agriculture build on to the knowledge they already have; from soils and nutrition to cropping, livestock, economics and decision-making, so that you can fuse it all together into even better, more confident and more profitable farming. As an agriculture educator and perennial student, I want to help you fill those hidden gaps so you can make better decisions and grow a more resilient, profitable business.

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