Healthy Soils for Sustainable Food Production and Environmental Quality

Healthy soils are vital engines for socio-economic, environmental and population health. Soil is a non-renewable resource and the foundation for food production.

Soil degradationis a major threat to international food security. Faced with soil degradation and population growth, Australia and China have come together to establish Healthy Soils for Sustainable Food Production and Environmental Quality, a Joint Research Centre (JRC) to address food security and sustainable soil management.

Mission

The Centre is dedicated to

delivering new solutions to challenges in sustainable agricultural management
training early and mid-career-researchers through bilateral study opportunities
facilitating collaboration between stakeholders in Australia and China.

The four strategic priorities of the Centre are:

Synchronisation of nutrient and water resources
Recovery of resources from agricultural wastes
Soil processes and remediation
Supply chain and food credentials

Vision

The Centre brings internationally-recognised researchers from Australia and China together with industry leaders and national decision makers to carry out research, training, and develop partnerships across the supply chain. This approach ensures targeted research with outputs that are transferable to the industry and other end users.

Partners

The Centre is one of six Joint Research Centres (JRC) co-funded by both the Australian and Chinese governments as part of the Australia-China Science and Research Fund.

University of Melbourne is the lead for this JRC. Professor Deli Chen leads the Centre as Centre Director. The centre brings together expertise from across Australia including the CSIRO, the University of New England, University of Sydney and University of Western Australia.

In China, the Centre is supported by ten partners including the Chinese Agricultural University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Nanjing Agricultural University.

Centre Steering Committee

Prof Deli Chen, Centre Director
Prof Mike McLaughlin, Independent Chair
Dr Ee-Ling Ng, Centre Manager
Mr Rowan Williams, BASF
Mr Charlie Walker, Incitec Pivot
Dr Enli Wang, CSIRO
Prof Daniel Murphy, University of Western Australia
Prof Tony O’Donnell, University of Western Australia
Prof Iain Young, The University of Sydney

Next : Research

The JRC focuses on four research themes:

Synchronisation of nutrients and water resources

Efficient use of nutrients and water are key components of sustainable agriculture. Research within this theme looks at the development of enhanced efficiency fertilisers, precision agriculture and decision making tools.

Leaders:
Prof Zhang Fusuo
Director of Center for Resources, Environment and Food Security
China Agricultural University

Professor Iain Young
Head, School of Life and Environmental Sciences
The University of Sydney

Recovery of resources from agricultural wastes

Agricultural production systems are sub-optimal in their waste management and materials regarded as ‘wastes’ are often valuable co-products. Research within this theme looks at the production of stable, pathogen-free bioproducts, understanding nutrient dynamics of recycled agricultural wastes and the use of the bioproducts inoculated with beneficial microbes to suppress soil-borne pathogens.

Leaders:
Professor Shen Qirong
College of Resources and Environmental Sciences
Nanjing Agricultural University

Professor Jim He
Professor of Molecular Soil Ecology
The University of Melbourne

Soil processes and remediation

Sub-soil properties that limit plant growth and heavy metal pollution are threats to agricultural productivity and safe food. Research within this theme examines a range of new technologies to mitigate the impact of contaminants and improve the hazard analysis and critical control points.

Leaders:
Professor Wu Jinshui
Director in Chief, the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture
Chinese Academy of Sciences

Professor Tony O’Donnell
Dean, Faculty of Science
University of Western Australia

Supply chain and food credentials

Activities in this theme focus on knowledge exchange and integration of soil management information developed in the other themes to develop a framework for evidence-based green credentials of agricultural products.

Leaders:
Professor Xu Minggang
Deputy Director General, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Professor Deli Chen
Director ACJRC - Healthy Soil, Healthy Food
The University of Melbourne

Next : News & Events

News

Events

Past events

Next : Publications

Recent journal articles

Liu R, Hayden H, Suter H, Hu HW, Lam SK, He JZ, Mele P, Chen D (2017). The effect of temperature and moisture on the source of N2O and contributions from ammonia oxidizers in an agricultural soil. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 53, 141-1522.
Chalk PM, He JZ, Peoples MB, Chen D (2017). 15N2 ;as a tracer of biological N2fixation: A 75-year retrospective. Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 106: 36-50.
Coates TW, Fleschb TK, McGinnc SM, Charmleyd Ed, Chen D (2017). Evaluating an eddy covariance technique to estimate point-source emissions and its potential application to grazing cattle. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 234-235: 164-171.4.
Xia Liang, Allison M. Leach, James N. Galloway, Baojing Gu, Shu Kee Lam, Deli Chen (2016). Beef and coal are key drivers of Australia's high nitrogen footprint, ;Scientific Reports, doi:10.1038/srep39644
Xia L, Lam SK, Yan X, Chen D. 2017 How Does Recycling of Livestock Manure in Agroecosystems Affect Crop Productivity, Reactive Nitrogen Losses, and Soil Carbon Balance? Environmental Science and Technology, doi: 10.1021/acs.est.6b06470
Rui, Y., Gleeson, D.B., Murphy, D. V, Hoyle, F.C., 2017. Response of microbial biomass and CO2-C loss to wetting patterns are temperature dependent in a semi-arid soil. Sci. Rep. 7.
Wei, X., Hu, Y., Peng, P., Zhu, Z., Atere, C.T., O’Donnell, A.G., Wu, J., Ge, T., 2017. Effect of P stoichiometry on the abundance of nitrogen-cycle genes in phosphorus-limited paddy soil. Biol. Fertil. Soils 53, 767–776.
Xia, L., Lam, S.K., Yan, X., Chen, D., 2017. How Does Recycling of Livestock Manure in Agroecosystems Affect Crop Productivity, Reactive Nitrogen Losses, and Soil Carbon Balance? Environ. Sci. Technol. 51, 7450–7457.
Ng, E.-L., Huerta Lwanga, E., Eldridge, S.M., Johnston, P., Hu, H.-W., Geissen, V., Chen, D., 2018. An overview of microplastic and nanoplastic pollution in agroecosystems. Sci. Total Environ. 627, 1377–1388.
Gou, M., Hu, H.-W., Zhang, Y.-J., Wang, J.-T., Hayden, H., Tang, Y.-Q., He, J.-Z., 2018. Aerobic composting reduces antibiotic resistance genes in cattle manure and the resistome dissemination in agricultural soils. Sci. Total Environ. 612, 1300–1310.
Zhang, Y.-J., Hu, H.-W., Gou, M., Wang, J.-T., Chen, D., He, J.-Z., 2017. Temporal succession of soil antibiotic resistance genes following application of swine, cattle and poultry manures spiked with or without antibiotics. Environ. Pollut. 231, 1621–1632.

Public outreach

Ng EL. Facing our environmental crisis head on Pursuit, 23 March 2019 link: https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/facing-our-environmental-crisis-head-on

Liang X, Chen DL, Lam SK, Galloway JN, Leach AM. 2018 What you need to know about nitrogen pollution , Pursuit, 19 July 2018

Ng EL, Liang X, Chen DL. 2018 You’ve heard of a carbon footprint – now it’s time to take steps to cut your nitrogen footprint, The Conversation (Pursuit co-publication), 16 July 2018

Deli Chen, Baojing Gu 2018. Small farms and China’s reliance of agricultural chemicals, The Pursuit, 19 June 2018

Hannink N. 2017 The power of recycled poo, Pursuit, 23 August 2017

Ng EL. 2017 Plastic pollutants pervade water and land, The Scientist, 1 June 2017

Ng EL, Chen DL. 2017 How healthy soils make for a healthy life , The Conversation (Pursuit co-publication), 21 March 2017

Ng EL, Edis R, Chen DL. 2016 Nitrogen: the forgotten element of climate change , The Conversation (Pursuit co-publication), 5 Dec 2016

Next : Contact

The Centre management team is based at the University of Melbourne's Parkville campus

Address

Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences building

Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences
The University of Melbourne
Building 142, Royal Parade
Parkville 3010, Victoria
Australia

General enquiries

Ee Ling Ng
PhD (Soil Science), MSc (Applied Ecology), BSc (Biotechnology)
Centre Manager
Email: eeling.ng@unimelb.edu.au