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2025 News

  1. Soil carbon: which on-farm interventions does the science support?

    The world’s soils have been calculated to contain 1,700 gigatonnes of organic carbon to a depth of 1 metre, which is more than the mass of carbon in the atmosphere and vegetation combined. Because of this, there’s been a lot of interest in how soil carbon stocks could help to mitigate global greenho...

  2. Springtail safari: a field-based assessment of agrichemical use

    Soil fauna are an essential component of virtually all terrestrial ecosystems. They are usually categorised by size into microfauna (2 to 200 µm), mesofauna (200 to 2,000 µm) and macrofauna (over 2,000 µm). The most dominant microfauna are nematodes, with springtails and mites the most dominant meso...

  3. Calculating carbon emissions from peat fires and peaty soils

    Huge amounts of carbon were lost in recent human-caused fires at two of Aotearoa New Zealand (AoNZ)’s most important wetlands – the Kaimaumau-Motutangi wetland in Northland and the Awarua wetland in Southland.

  4. SedNetNZ erosion modelling now powered by LiDAR data

    SedNetNZ is a soil erosion model developed by Manaaki Whenua that predicts the generation and transport of sediment through river networks, based on representation of hillslope and channel processes at the sub- catchment scale.

  5. Small tree patches: big impact on carbon storage in New Zealand grasslands

    A new study reveals small tree patches can have mighty environmental, economic, and cultural benefits in grassland landscapes across Aotearoa New Zealand (AoNZ).

  6. Digging for treasure: AI tool to help scientists access soil research under development

    Callaghan Innovation and Manaaki Whenua are digging into artificial intelligence to develop a tool to help scientists uncover a treasure trove of soil research insights. The AI tool, named SoilInsights, will help Manaaki Whenua scientists seeking to access its extensive digital library, enabling the...

  7. Profile update: when soil science gets competitive

    Manaaki Whenua’s soil scientists are leaders in their field – especially below the ground surface! Many are also active in the New Zealand Society of Soil Science, including Dr Pierre Roudier (the society’s incoming president for 2025-26), Dr Sam Carrick (immediate past-president), and Dr Kirstin De...

  8. S-map Online: wider coverage, better decision-making

    Aotearoa New Zealand is internationally recognised as having a high diversity of soil types, with our online soil mapping tool S-map identifying 4,844 soil siblings (types) in the 11 million hectares of the country mapped so far. This represents around 73% of the multiple-use land of AoNZ (in Land U...

  9. And Vanuatu makes six

    The Pacific Soils Portal has had an upgrade: Vanuatu has become the sixth island nation to be covered by this popular service, with Vanuatu’s national soil dataset now saved from potential loss, and readily available for use.

  10. Good practice winter grazing adopted by farmers

    Intensive winter grazing of livestock is a common practice in Aotearoa New Zealand (AoNZ). Livestock are grazed on an annual forage crop such as swede, kale, fodder beet or oats to feed stock over winter when pasture growth is reduced, particularly in colder southern regions. The typically high dens...