SOIL ENHANCER USE, Australia, year ended 30 June 2015
2014-15
Movement since
2013-14
ha
%
Compost
261 760
13%
Green manure
41 625
-29%
Mulch
13 011
-59%
Lime and/or dolomite (a)(b)
2 419 064
17%
Gypsum
989 632
0%
Biochar
7 197
49%
Poultry manure
271 270
40%
Other soil enhancers
557 055
16%
(a) Including lime sand and stone
(b) Data for Lime and Dolomite are recorded separately in the datacubes
Footnote(s): (a) Includes ACT (b) Zero values may represent data that is not available for publication due to confidentiality restrictions (c) Includes lime sand and stone.
It is estimated that 26,800, or 22%, of all agricultural businesses in Australia used soil enhancers on 4.6 million hectares of land in 2014-15. This was a 19% increase in the number of agricultural businesses applying soil enhancers and a 12% increase in the area that soil enhancers were used on when compared to 2013-14.
Lime and/or dolomite was the main soil enhancer by area of application in 2014-15, and accounted for 53% of the area on which all soil enhancers were applied. This category of soil enhancers also reported the largest change in area of application up by 347 thousand hectares, or 17%, to 2.4 million hectares and/or dolomite was the main soil enhancer by area of application in 2014-15, and accounted for 53% of the area on which all soil enhancers were applied.
Victoria recorded the largest number of agricultural businesses applying some form of soil enhancer (7,470 businesses), which was up by 18% on the 2013-14 estimate, Western Australia applied soil enhancers to the largest area of land (1.9 million hectares), which was up by 12% on the 2013-14 estimate.
Tonnes of soil enhancers applied, 2014-15 by Natural Resource Management Regions
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