The National Soil Monitoring Program (NSMP) is a $21.6 million initiative from the 2023-2024 budget. It will support the delivery of the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program, funded through the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT).
The NSMP will help address Priority 1 of the National Soil Action Plan. This priority refers to the development of an ‘agreed national framework to support the measurement, monitoring, mapping, reporting and sharing of soil state and trend information, to inform best practice management, decision making and future investment in soil’. The work also supports goal 3 of the National Soil Strategy (2021) to ‘strengthen soil knowledge and capability’.
The purpose of the NSMP is to monitor agreed national soil health indicators and to use the data to help understand soil condition and trends. The data will support stakeholders to make evidence-based decisions to improve soil health at a range of scales. This will also empower farmers to prioritise their soil health and strengthen their soil knowledge and capability, increasing stewardship of their land and providing the tools to restore, improve and maintain soil health.
The NSMP will complement the Australian National Soil Information System (ANSIS) by providing publicly available harmonised data from all over Australia. This will assist the ANSIS program with a number of soil data policy improvements including benchmarking important soil properties. It will also support improved decision-making by land holders and policy makers on soil management.
NSMP Phase Status
NSMP Phase 1 encompasses the design in sampling and measurement requirements for the program. CSIRO leads this phase with oversight from the department. It establishes standards and operational requirements, and prepares for on-ground and testing activities. This includes identifying potential service providers and sub-contracting requirements. Phase I is a 12 month contract executed on 29 November 2023 with a budget of $1.8 million.
NSMP Phase 2 will include the delivery of the program over a 3-4 year period and is likely to commence late 2024.