World Soil Day is celebrated every year on 5 December, and NuGrow is happy to use this opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of soils, and the need for sustainable management to keep our soil resources healthy. Held since 2002, this day encourages people worldwide to fight soil biodiversity loss and engage in proactively improving soil health.
This year’s campaign, “Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity” aims to:
- Address the growing challenges of soil management
- Fight soil biodiversity loss
- Increase awareness of the issues surrounding soil and the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems
- Encourage individuals, communities, organisations and governments to proactively work towards improving soil health
And it’s a campaign that is vitally needed, as the current state of soil health is alarming:
- The overuse of chemicals and industrial agriculture has actively degraded our soils to the point that they may only sustain a few more decades of farming seasons
- Chemical destruction of biological processes effectively poisons our soil, which in turn transfers into our food
- Soil erosion by wind, water and tillage continues to be a huge threat to soil health and soil ecosystems
- Soil erosion leads to an increase in sedimentation and pollution in our waterways, and causes declines in species which live there
- Badly degraded land cannot hold onto water effectively, and leads to worse flooding events
NuGrow’s Manager of Revegetation Services, Ben Brown, said “Australia has some of the oldest soils in the world that are often low in organic matter and prone to erosion. Managing the erosion of our soils is vital in the protection of our natural environment”.
Soil is a finite resource, without which we wouldn’t be able to produce our food. Healthy soils help to ensure a sustainable future and are the key to food security and production. The health of our soils not only affects our food, but also our water, air quality and health. The current rate at which our soil is degrading poses a direct threat to the capacity of future generations to meet their basic needs.
That’s where NuGrow comes in. While there are many challenges to maintaining soil health, there are also many solutions. We help address soil issues in a number of ways.
Converting waste products into soils, soil conditioners and composts
NuGrow converts a variety of waste streams into high-grade composts, premium soils and soil conditioners. Each product is designed precisely to achieve results like enhanced growth rates and yields and improved soil fertility and micro-life. We work closely with soil scientists in this process to maintain a consistently high standard in our products.
Erosion control measures
NuGrow’s polymer service binds the surface of the soil, and is an inexpensive way of sealing a site for a short term before a permanent solution can be applied. This allows for total dust and erosion control that will bind to all material types quickly and effectively. Polymer can be used on building sites, roads or anywhere where there is exposed soil, sand or rock.
NuGrow also offers a more permanent Growganics solution to provide the highest level of erosion control and soil stabilisation for diverse site conditions. The high-quality compost used with a Growganics organics blanket improves the organic content of depleted subgrade soil. Successful implementation of these soil erosion control measures means a reduction in the environmental impacts on a development site.
Revegetation strategies
Here at NuGrow we provide bulk revegetation and landscaping solutions featuring tailored compost, which releases nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon back into the soil. This process rebuilds soil structure, organic matter and fertility, creating long-term value and benefits. These solutions include our Growganics organics blanket, that uses a tailored seed mix in combination with a high-quality compost to ensure long-term natural revegetation specific to a region. And our Hydroganics hydrocompost solution, an affordable, high quality compost-based Hydromulch and erosion control solution unlike anything else on the market.
Mobile soil screening
Our mobile soil screening service puts value back into site-won material, and improves site soil to required standards for reuse on site or for sale. This service results in a stockpile of quality, screened soil that will reduce both environmental and community impacts.
Soil anchors all life on Earth, and is one of our most precious – and undervalued – resources. It’s also a non-renewable commodity that is being increasingly threatened by human interference. Improving our soil health is a vital part of our job, and it’s something that we all need to be more aware of. On World Soil Day this year, contact us to find out more about how we can help you take steps to proactively preserve and improve your soil health.