Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

New approach to farm land protection

Updated at 12:51 pm on 1 February 2012

Lincoln University scientists are investigating a new approach to protecting the food supply from a toxic heavy metal that's building up on farm land.

Cadmium from phosphate fertilisers can accumulate in soil.

The danger lies in it ending up in agricultural products after being absorbed by plants growing in contaminated soil.

Scientists from Lincoln are working with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Solid Energy coal mining company to develop new methods of locking up cadmium in the soil, to stop it entering the food chain.

Associate Professor Brett Robinson says trials using a lignite product added to the soil are showing a lot of promise.

He says adding lignite to the soil should be a practical and reasonably low cost process for farmers, but more research is needed first.

Associate Professor Robinson says they are looking at another three to five years research to find those answers.

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