About the Soil & Earth Sciences Group

Following the establishment of Massey Agricultural College in 1927 a Department of Soil and Field Husbandry was created. With the support of a grant from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, field experiments on soil drainage problems began in 1938 and, with subsequent encouragement from farmers, local authorities and Government departments, the Drainage Extension Service (DES) was established in 1946. The DES has since been privatised and has ceased to operate from Massey University .

A separate Department of Soil Science was formed in 1961 when the College became Massey University , with the DES attached to the Department. In 1983 the Fertilizer & Lime Research Centre (FLRC) was formed and it was also attached to the Department.

In 1998 a major reorganisation of the University led to the Soil & Earth Sciences Group being included within a new Institute of Natural Resources . In 2002 the Volcanic Risk Solutions Research Centre was formed to research and develop community response plans for New Zealand and overseas hazards. Today, all three units work closely together in teaching and research. The group has teaching responsibilities in Agriculture, Horticulture, Earth Science, and Environmental Science programmes as well as contributing to Veterinary Science and Emergency Services Management.

Soil and Earth Sciences have been pro-active in establishing the Fertilizer & Lime Research Centre (FLRC) (1983), the New Zealand Centre for Precision Agriculture (NZCPA) (2000) and now the New Zealand Biochar Research Centre (NZBRC) (2008).The latter two are both joint ventures between the Institute of Natural Resources and the School of Engineering and Advanced Technology (SEAT). The NZCPA promotes new initiatives using the groups' knowledge base and skill in geographic information systems and remote and proximal sensing techniques.

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Last updated on Thursday 30 September 2010