Visual Soil Assessment (VSA) Home
Environmental and economic sustainability of cropping and pastoral farms can be greatly influenced by soil quality. The visual soil assessment method (VSA) provides land managers with a simple tool to assess and monitor soil quality. Visual soil properties are diagnostic of soil quality, and provide an effective and immediate way to assess soil quality quickly and cheaply in the field.
VSA is based on the visual scoring of key bio-physical indicators of soil quality, and incorporated on an easy to use scorecard. The soil indicators are supported by plant 'performance' indicators that link soil condition to crop production.The indicators are underpinned by extensive research and are linked to economic performance. Soil indicators used are generic, and have the advantage of being largely independent of soil type. This enables VSA to be applied throughout the country.
The VSA Field Guide, contains all the information necessary to cary out VSA on your land. The guide is currently out of print. All four volumes are available for download as PDF files.
Contact:
 | Allan Hewitt Email  |
Landcare Research | |
Phone: 03 321 9999 |