Soil biology was on the agenda for discussion at a two day masterclass organised by the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at UWS.

The two day workshop utilised a mix of presentation, discussion and practical examples to bring the subject to life amongst the 22 participants. In attendance from UNE were Oliver Knox, Sahar Al-shamma and Samieh Nasrabadi, whose PhD is looking at mycorrhizal interactions with cotton in sodic soils.

There were many take home messages from the meeting, but one that particularly resinated was that growers want to know if a product works, where as researchers may be more interested in the how and why it works.

The Cotton Industry has a long standing interest in furthering our understanding of soil biology and the workshop was a useful venue in which to discuss both current and future research and on farm interests in this area. Another workshop was discussed as a possibility for next year with most of the attendees favouring the idea of a longer class and the possibility of conducting it on farm.