Carbon News: toxic metal in soils major problem

2 December

Media Release

Carbon News: toxic metal in soils major problem

Toxic cadmium levels, soil compaction and carbon loss are looming as major problems which could affect New Zealand’s agricultural economy, a soil scientist is warning, Carbon News (www.carbonnews.co.nz) reports today.

Carbon News says already, livers and kidneys from cattle older than two years cannot be sold for human consumption because of high cadmium levels, and there are fears that cadmium contamination could affect New Zealand’s export markets, especially in Europe.

Matthew Taylor, of the Waikato Regional Council, is putting the finishing touches on this year’s soil quality report which he says confirms earlier fears about cadmium levels and compaction.

In addition, he says, it shows for the first time evidence of soil carbon loss in dairy farms.

Carbon News, the country’s only specialist information service on the carbon markets, says cadmium contamination, caused by the application of phosphate fertilisers, was identified as a problem in the region in a 2005 report which described it as a national issue, which, if poorly managed, could “back horticulturalists, arable and pastoral farmers into a cadmium corner”.

Cadmium is a heavy metal which accumulates in soil and is passed to humans through food.

The 2005 report said that, on average, the Waikato region’s agricultural soils already contained five times their natural levels of cadmium, and that there was evidence that in some New Zealand crops, the current food standard was routinely being exceeded, especially for some varieties of wheat.

The report led to the development of a national cadmium strategy aimed at reducing the amount of cadmium going on to soils through fertiliser.

But Taylor says that while progress is being made on cadmium, soil sampling shows that there are still major problems looming from cadmium and other elements, including zinc from facial eczema treatments.

“Cadmium is the most pressing, in our opinion, of the trace metals,” he told Carbon News, “but we are more concerned about compaction, and about the loss of soil carbon, which is showing up in data from dairy farms for the first time.”

Taylor says that ignoring these problems could have serious implications and restrict future land use.

ENDS

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