Written by MAF NZ Thursday, 17 February 2011 09:35
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) yesterday announced a proactive strategy to manage the gradual cadmium build-up in New Zealand’s agricultural soils. MAF’s Director of Natural Resources Policy, Mike Jebson says cadmium is a naturally occurring element, present in phosphate rock from which phosphate fertiliser is made. It tends to accumulate slowly in soils where there is regular use of this fertiliser. “Concentrations are relatively low in New Zealand’s productive soils but monitoring indicates that levels have slowly increased, from decade to decade.
“Excessive levels of cadmium in soils can restrict land use flexibility and increases the risks from cadmium entering the food chain, which can have implications for human health.
The Cadmium Management Strategy is a best practice approach to ensure that cadmium in rural soils remains a minimal risk to health, trade, land use flexibility and the environment over the next 100 years, while supporting the ongoing economic contribution of the primary sector.
It was presented yesterday to industry at the annual Fertiliser and Lime Research Centre Workshop, at Massey University.
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