Phil Schofield, soil scientist, completes study into how healthier soils absorb and hold rainwater

Phil Schofield, HB Future Farming trustee, and soil scientist

Phil Schofield, HB Future Farming trustee* and soil scientist, has completed a study for HB Regional Council’s ‘Regional Water Assessment’ project** which looks into how healthier soils absorb and hold rainwater. The study’s findings are reported here.

Briefly, he finds that there is little New Zealand research, and so turns to overseas studies, which show that increased soil moisture infiltration rates associated with changed land management practices (regenerative farming) could increase infiltration rates by 20mm/hour.

Phil assesses that improved soil function on half the area of the Ruataniwha and Heretaunga Plains could result in increased water storage of between 2.8 million and 14 million m3.

Schofield: “This option is much easier to do and less risky than building dams, but we need to advance the proof rapidly and make it easy for land owners to buy into changed management of their soil.”

*The Hawkes Bay Future Farming Trust comprises a board of seven independent trustees, established in 2019 with funding from HB Regional Council, who have a mandate to champion sustainable agriculture in Hawke’s Bay.

**The HB Regional Council’s Regional Water Assessment project, reported as being in its final stages, will map Hawkes Bay’s regional water demand and supply over the next fifty years.