Who is Soil Management Designs
Dr. David McKenzie
Dr David McKenzie is the owner and director of SOILmgt. He has Bachelor of Natural Resources and Master of Science in Agriculture degrees from the University of New England and a Ph.D. degree in soil physics from the University of Sydney. In 2018 David was awarded the JA Prescott Medal by Soil Science Australia for having made an outstanding 40-year contribution to Australian soil science. He has written a significant number of scientific papers and book chapters dealing with agricultural soil assessment and management.
David also is an Adjunct Professor with the School of Environmental and Rural Science at the University of New England, Armidale. This has allowed him to be involved again with research that is based on a blending of industry knowledge and soil science fundamentals.
His current focus is on grain yield-gap reduction – via improved soil assessment and management – to boost profitability and land values for farmers on constrained soil, and to integrate this with soil data describing the natural features of nearby less-disturbed land systems to potentially provide reward for environmental services.
Another ambition is to help Australian agriculture to establish a new highly professional network of accredited Soil Science Specialists with advanced training in pedology, pedometrics, soil amelioration science, ecology, agronomy, and natural resource economics.