My Dirt Doctor Helps
Support Organic Farming
Now you can ask your personal dirt doctor for help with organic farming and optimal management of the living soil. a range of support services are available to you from this page. These include
soil testing
,
leaf and pasture analysis
,
on-farm consultation
,
Farm Walks and field days
, as well as on-going agronomic support that is only a phone call or email away. I provide support for farming throughout Australia and in other countries around the World, but tend to concentrate on South-central Victoria. You can see more details about my experience and qualifications at LinkedIn:  View My profile. Simply follow the links below for more information on: NEW! - Soil Foodweb TestingYou can now use
Soil Foodweb (SFI) testing and courses
to supplement Dirt-Doctor services, there is now a great website for there Australian Connection, with all the information you need. Important: SFI works with Rhizosphere organisms and so they use a different soil sampling method to the one described for
Country Dirt Doctor
soil testing. Make sure you read the details on
the SFI Soil Submission Form
before collecting and sending any samples.
Difference between SFI and Country Dirt Doctor Testing
SFI has been the "Lone Wolf" of soil testing and soil management for a long time and there are a few basic differences that have kept them apart. Having seen the strong and undeniable parallels between soil biology research findings by the two approaches, I am convinced there must be ways to bridge the gap and work more closely together.Perhaps the biggest difference is that SFI looks at Rhizosphere organisms 'in situ' (that is, just straight under a microscope without first culturing them out. Other soil tests work with the so-called "Bulk Soil" and so use different sampling methods and need to test for things. The difference between the Rhizosphere and Bulk soil can best be viewed as analogous to the difference between things like Estuaries and reefs (with there high bio-mass and biodiversity) the open ocean. These are quite different and largely independent regions within the marine environment, but each tells us something about what is going on in the sea. Estuaries are often called the Nurseries of the sea, because many creatures are born or grow to maturity there. Then they leave and travel through the ocean to find other places to breed and live. However, despite the difference there are still important connections, so a proper understanding to the sea should include knowledge of all its various environments and how the interact with each other. The same should be true for soil, but (so-far) attention has been focused only on soil chemistry. As we have moved to include soil physics, it would also make sense that soil biology should also become part of our understanding of soils. As we bridge the gaps and more is learned, you will find the information here, so keep coming back regularly. If you have any question or you are not sure how to proceed, please use the form below to contact us:
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