soil

Discover the world beneath our feet with Planet Earth and Beyond resources for NZ Curriculum levels 1 and 2.

Our activities on the land have wide-ranging effects on Aotearoa New Zealand’s diverse ecosystems and the biodiversity they support. Our land 2024 is an environmental report...

Tupuānuku is a whetū in the Matariki cluster. It is the star connected to anything associated within the soil, including cultivated and uncultivated foods grown in...

We often think of pasture as grassy areas where cows, sheep or other animals graze, but if we take a closer look, there is a lot...

CAPOW – Curious About Processing Organic Waste – is a Taranaki-based citizen science project and one of the Participatory Science Platform (PSP) projects supported by the...

Farming is a way of life in New Zealand – about half the country’s land is used for primary production. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise reports...

Students do not arrive in the classroom as blank slates. They’ve been exposed to the world around them and may have created their own explanations for...

A habitat is an area in which something lives. Soil is a habitat, and it is full of life! Around 25% of everything alive on the...

If you dig a hole in your school playing field, will the soil there look the same as the soil in your home garden? Is soil...

What’s in soil? When you pick up a handful of soil, what do you see? All soil is made up of inorganic mineral particles, organic matter...

Soil, dirt, earth, muck – there are lots of words for soil. One we don’t often hear associated with soil is life. Soil keeps us alive...

When Māori arrived in Aotearoa/New Zealand in the late 13th century, they found a land quite different to the Polynesia from which they had travelled. The...

Imagine having a job where you get to work outside and no one worries if you get dirty! That is one aspect many soil scientists enjoy...

Discover the world beneath our feet with Planet Earth and Beyond resources for NZ Curriculum levels 1 and 2. Without soil, we would be hungry, thirsty,...

Thomas William Walker, known to many as ‘Prof’, was a key player in the evolution and development of modern New Zealand soil science. As well as...

This resource provides explanations of the key concepts encountered when looking at applying science to improve farming and the environment – the ‘basics’ that every student...

We often think of mountains as immoveable, static, constant – fixed in time and space. Nothing could be further from the truth according to a team...

The Science Learning Hub team understands the importance of covering all science disciplines within our content. Before beginning this collection of resources on soil and farming,...

Position: Senior scientist, Land and Environment group, AgResearch, Invermay, Mosgiel. Field: Soil scientist. Dr Ross Monaghan is a senior scientist for the Land and Environment Group...

Positions: Professor – Lincoln University, Principal Scientist – AgResearch, Chief Scientist – National Science Challenge: Our Land and Water. Field: Soil and water quality. Professor Richard...

Position: Stakeholder Relationship Manager for Māori Agribusiness, (formerly Scientist), AgResearch. Field: Environmental science (soil) Dr Selai Letica’s interest is in soil nitrogen cycling in agriculture. She...

Most people are familiar with the Linnean classification system used to identify living things. We use scientific names to describe and categorise living things precisely. For...

Farming is an economic venture – farmers work the land to gain an income. Many New Zealand farmers have an interest in preserving and enhancing the...

Clover grows well in New Zealand pasture and has long been used to get nitrogen into the soil. It was introduced in the 1800s from England...

Just as we have essential needs for our growth, plants also have essential needs for their survival. These include: sunlight air water nutrients appropriate temperature. As...