Written by Henrico Harris
Effective soil management is essential for boosting farming productivity, supporting crop health, enhancing water retention, and maintaining ecosystem balance. Within the SIZA Environmental Standard, soil management is key in ensuring farm sustainability and audit compliance. While soil enhancement practices can be adapted based on specific conditions, common techniques such as soil health assessments, erosion control, nutrient management, and minimising compaction are widely used to promote soil health and prevent degradation.
Preparation for a SIZA Environmental Standard audit requires thorough documentation and practice records. The environmental auditor will assess soil management as part of the broader environmental risk review and determine whether your farm complies with the environmental legislative standards. The first step toward compliance is ensuring that your environmental policy and management plan are reviewed and updated annually and signed by senior management.
In addition to policies and plans, a farm should have the following in place:
- Soil Health Records: Thorough soil testing and analysis records are essential. Auditors will expect to see evidence of soil health monitoring, including nutrient levels and any actions taken based on the results.
- Risk Assessments: Regular environmental risk assessments (ERAs) should cover all aspects of soil management. These assessments help identify and map soil structures, high-risk areas, and potential soil degradation risks and outline measures to mitigate risks.
- Management Plans: An environmental management plan (EMP) should include strategies for soil conservation, nutrient management, erosion control, and land use. Additionally, the EMP should also be reviewed and updated annually.
- Soil management policy: The soil management policy is usually included in the environmental management policy, which is the commitment to updating and implementing the soil management plan.
Let’s look at a practical example:
After a soil risk assessment and analysis revealed high erosion rates of topsoil, soil compaction from multiple passes in the fruit orchards, and nutrient deficiencies, the farm implemented risk mitigation strategies such as planting cover crops, controlled traffic farming (CTF), and precision farming techniques. These changes improved crop yields and reduced their environmental impact by minimising the loss of nutrient-rich topsoil, less runoff due to compacted soils, and enhanced soil carbon during their follow-up analysis. By regularly updating soil mapping, sampling, documenting the analysis and efforts in their EMP, and requesting soil carbon results, the farm ensured they were fully prepared for their audit. Subsequently, the fruit farm successfully passed the Soil Management section for their environmental audit with improved soil health. It received a note of good practice because of its soil carbon measurement.
Effective soil management is essential for both farm and audit success. By maintaining thorough records and management plans, completing and using the Environmental SAQ, receiving a SIZA CARES visit before their audit, and adhering to the requirements outlined in the SIZA Environmental Standard, farmers can ensure they are ready for their next audit.
For more information, contact the SIZA office at 021 852 8184 or email enviro@siza.co.za.
