Our video production for Australia's Grains Research & Development Corporation (GRDC) about solutions to dry land salinity.
There are few sights more heartbreaking in agriculture than the creeping destruction of productive land by salt. In the driest inhabited continent, it's strange that one of the greatest threats to agricultural production has come not from too little water, but from a surplus of it.
Water from rain that is unused by crops or evaporation passes through to add to groundwater. Over time, in many areas of Australia, the groundwater has reached the surface, bringing with it salts which make cropping impossible.
There's been significant progress in dealing with the problem in the past 30 years, thanks in part to a significant research investment, including the GRDC projects described in this 2002 video.
19 мар 2014
