Furrows rows in a plowed field prepared for planting potatoes crops in spring.

Soil quality

This dependency category covers direct and indirect reliance on soils being of a certain quality – any of the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of soils that enable soils to provide ecosystem services.

Metric:

Proportion of land area with adequate soil quality

Units

Percentage (%)

Example target

Site-specific

Example methods / guidance / references

What are tiers?

Tier 1

Estimate using own judgement and observations

Tier 2

Estimate using third-party professional estimates or public data

Tier 3

Model or measure based on site-specific surveys/sampling, remote or in-field sensing, laboratory analysis, etc.

Example data sources

Internal records

Third-party data sources

Maps of various spatially modelled Australian soil variables are available at the Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia – Soil and Landscape Grid Viewer.

Maps of various spatially modelled and measured Australian soil variables are available at Visualising Australasia’s Soils (VAS).

Site-specific measurements or model outputs

Data on various spatially modelled Australian soil variables are available at the Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia – Get the Data. 

Data on various measured Australian soil variables (obtained from various state and national data sources) are available at SoilDataFederator.

Data on various measured Australian soil variables are available at the Australian National Soil Information System (ANSIS) Data Portal.

Notes

This measure may be derived from ecosystem asset condition accounts (see Ecosystem assets). The relevant definition of adequate soil quality will depend on the production system, target productivity level and climate, and may have multiple components (e.g. soil pH, salinity, SOC etc.). Relevant soil quality variables may include any of the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of soils that enable soils to provide ecosystem services.

Last updated: 3rd January 2025