Fertcare: A Model for Linking Soil and Plant Testing with Quality Assurance for Interpretation

Abstract

Fertilizers provide an effective way to replace valuable plant nutrients that are removed in crop and animal products. Fertilizers also have potential to harm other ecosystems or impact food safety. Soil and plant testing is the foundation of management practices appropriate for specific sites and farming systems. Food safety and environmental issues associated with nutrients are areas of policy focus and public debate. The environmental issue of greatest concern for the Australian fertilizer industry is eutrophication. Recently there has been a strong public policy focus on the problem of transport of nutrients into the Great Barrier Reef catchments. The fertilizer industry has had significant involvement in developing policy responses to this issue. The industry has made a commitment to effectively manage environment and food safety issues by developing and delivering a fertilizer product stewardship program, Fertcare. This program is grounded in accepted science with the technical content of the program overseen by a committee of leading public- and private-sector experts in the fields of soils, plant nutrition, food safety, and environmental science. It is further strengthened by training that meets national competency standards and accredited advisors, who are independently audited every two years to ensure that they meet rigorous standards set by the Australasian Soil and Plant Analysis Council (ASPAC).With 2,400 people trained and 345 accredited advisors, Fertcare is a powerful tool in implementing practices that reduce environment and food safety risks. Fertcare provides strong assurance to government, consumers, and farmers that sound practices are being followed, and the program integrates nutrient management, public policy, and food quality assurance schemes. Fertcare underpins the significant contribution of the fertilizer industry to the development and implementation of good public policy to deal with issues associated with the use of fertilizer products. Fertcare helps ensure that sound science is put into practice by land managers through provision of consistent advice. This article provides a case history and description of the Australian Fertcare program.