FARM VALUES SHOULD REFLECT SOIL QUALITY: Soil test protects buyers against degraded land

摘要

THERE is a lot more tq buying a farm than the state of the fencing, the structures and the carrying capacity. According to CSIRO soil scientist Anthony Ringrose-Voase, it is vital to know what actually goes on beneath the ground. He wants land valuations to reflect the result of a scientific soil analysis to protect buyers against declining productivity and reward sellers who have improved their land. It is not good to pay too much for degraded land and find out five years later that it needs tonnesof lime per hectare to repair the damage, he says.