Australian National Soil Information System (ANSIS) - Soil Data Management Project

CSIRO are seeking to expand engagement with Federation University so that third tier soil data custodians can be supported to participate in the ANSIS data federation. CSIRO will gain access to Federation University’s specialist expertise in soils data and data interoperability. In the period to June 2023 the focus for Federation University to support a number of third tier data providers in provisioning data to the ANSIS data federation.

Stakeholders and data providers who will be supported in the development and/or utilisation of third tier trusted managed soil data repositories will be representative of a range of organisations: 

• Research
• Industry
• Cooperative Research Centres
• Farmers
• Natural Resource Management

Both established and new third tier trusted, managed soil data repositories will be utilised to support ANSIS data federation to support the Soil Data Management project outcomes.

• Soil CRC Visualising Australasia’s Soils
• Corangamite CMA and Glenelg Hopkins Soil Health Knowledgebase
• Federation CeRDI Observations System

Background

The National Soil Strategy is Australia’s first national policy on soil. It sets out how Australia will value, manage and improve its soils for the next 20 years. Released in May 2021, the Strategy has been developed in collaboration with state and territory governments, the National Soils Advocate, CSIRO and other major stakeholders in soil science and land management.

The National Soil Strategy prioritises soil health, seeks to empower soil innovation and stewards, and strengthen soil knowledge and capability. A $214.9 million funding package over four years will support the implementation of the National Soil Strategy and the associated Commonwealth Interim Action Plan. 

The National Soil Action Plan is a commitment under the National Soil Strategy that is currently under development and will outline priority actions over the next five years to improve Australia’s soil health and long-term security.

The National Soil Package includes $15 million to develop the Australian National Soil Information System (ANSIS) to store soil data, track and report trends and changes in soil health, and be used to monitor the impact of land management practices and environmental shocks over time. 

Outcomes

The targeted outcomes of the ANSIS Soil Data Management project are:

• Increased adoption and use of national soil data standards ensuring more efficient integration and interoperability of soil data
• Greater use of existing and future soil data from a range of sources for regional and national assessments
• Better communication and understanding of soil concepts across a range of users from farmers and industry to researchers and policy environments, leading to improved soil literacy and wider adoption of tools and technologies across user groups and applications 

The range of tasks and deliverables associated with this project will include establishing managed vocabulary services, further developing national soil standards and soil data exchange services, and revising and drafting sampling guidelines, chemical methods and updating handbooks.