Introduction to Understanding Soils
Soils represent an important agricultural resource for pasture production, forestry and horticulture.
There are a great variety of soil types throughout New Zealand, every one having its own position in the landscape and pattern of distribution over the region.
Each soil has a unique set of soil properties or characteristics that make one soil more suitable for a particular land use than another soil.
The ability to identify a particular soil, together with a knowledge of its properties, enables:
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land to be identified which has the most appropriate soil for a selected crop to be grown |
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crops to be identified that can be grown on a particular piece of land that has already been selected |
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a plan to be formulated for an existing piece of land so that the land can be modified to be more suited for its intended use. |