Improve your rainfall infiltration and retention

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A mid drought infiltration test in Central Otago in a paddock with a lot of bare ground

There are many ways to improve rainfall infiltration and soil moisture retention.

Having diagnosed your opportunity you can now identify your options and see how well they fit your context i.e. time required to implement, cost, infrastructure, people, values alignment etc.

If your primary limiting factor(s) is related to soil health, check out ‘How to improve your soil health’ which lists the basic needs of healthy soils and connects each aspect with relevant principles and possible practices to consider.

If your primary limiting factor(s) is related to above ground biomass (pastures, crops, trees and shrubs), there are a few strategies to consider. These include cover crops, diverse pastures, regenerative grazing management, agroforestry systems and more.

You might also want to explore some of the barriers to improving infiltration and soil moisture retention that farmers in ‘Catch the Rain’ identified - they may help clarify your context.

Once you have identified one or more practices that you think will address your limiting factor(s) and fit your context, what next?

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Safe-to-fail

“Integrating ‘safe-to-fail’ trials/experiments is a powerful way to support successful farm system transitions.”

Most people would advise not trying something new across the whole farm first time, unless you are very confident and experienced.

‘Safe to fail’ on-farm trials are a way to manage the risk of trying something new, while setting up simple and effective measurement and monitoring systems so you can be confident that your new practice(s) have worked or not. 

Check out ‘Setting up ‘safe-to-fail’ on-farm trials’ which includes a simple template you can use to design your trial. You can also check out some of the trials undertaken as part of the ‘Catch the Rain’ project below. 

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What to measure

There is an art to measuring and monitoring the most relevant and informative outcomes (for your trial) in an easy and cost effective way.

‘How to assess your soil health’ has a list of common, farmer friendly options you can explore for the soil component. The percentage of bare ground, plant spacing, pasture covers and residuals are all easy and informative measures for monitoring above ground biomass and how these factors may affect infiltration and soil moisture retention. 

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Measuring the depth of 80% of the root mass on Banks Peninsula loess soils as part of the Visual Soil Assessment process

For ‘Catch the Rain’ farmers focus on using Visual Soil Assessments (VSAs), including infiltration tests, at least twice a year for soil monitoring. Penetrometers are used where possible to measure compaction at different soil depths. Ground cover (bare ground) is monitored regularly throughout the year. Depending on the types of trials being run, farmers may also choose to measure basal ground cover, slaking, soil biology tests such as Hot Water Extractable Carbon (HWEC) or Soil Food Web (SFW), soil nutrient tests and/or the water drop penetration test for assessing soil water repellency. 

The most important things are;

The ‘Safe-to-fail’ trials template (pg 1)

• Have a plan

• Keep it simple

• Write it down (see the Safe-to-fail trial template)

• Share it with your team

• Commit to doing it properly and for the full timeframe you have set out - many trials are started well then neglected

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Examples of on-farm trials from ‘Catch the Rain’

Most farmers in Catch the Rain decided to test practices relating to;

• Grazing management

• Pasture species and/or

• Biological inputs.

Below are some real examples of these on-farm trials that you can use for inspiration. For more information on Catch the Rain trials, visit the webpage. 

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