Groundcover

Groundcover includes living plants such as herbaceous plants, vines, and moss. It also includes dead plant matter such as leaf litter, mulch, wood chips and twigs.

Groundcover is central to soil health, productivity, and farm resilience. Levels can vary with seasons and management practices such as grazing, cultivation, and burning.

Managing groundcover through careful grazing, reduced tillage, perennial species, and targeted interventions in bare areas will protect your soil, reduce erosion, improve water use, and increase long-term farm sustainability.

Healthy groundcover supports:

• soil fertility and structure
• water infiltration and retention, reducing runoff and evaporation
• buffering against temperature extremes
• soil carbon storage
• reduced soil erosion (wind and water)
• nutrient cycling and microbial activity
• weed suppression.

Without protection, up to 100 tonnes of topsoil per hectare can be lost in a year. This soil is difficult to replace and represents a major long-term risk to farm profitability and sustainability. 

Groundcover also insulates soils: bare soils in hot weather can reach temperatures over 50°C, killing beneficial soil organisms and reducing rainfall infiltration.

How much groundcover is needed?

Research in Australia provides benchmarks for groundcover targets:

100% groundcover along drainage lines prevents erosion in high-flow areas.

Even under similar soil and climate conditions, management decisions can create large differences in groundcover, as can be seen when comparing paddocks separated by a fence line.

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Maintaining and improving groundcover

Groundcover is influenced by seasonal conditions, but management decisions play a crucial role. Long-term benefits of maintaining groundcover outweigh short-term challenges. Practices to maintain or improve groundcover include:

• reducing tillage and adopting direct-drill cropping or pasture establishment
• incorporating perennial species into paddocks
• managing grazing pressure (rotational grazing, stocking rates)
• setting realistic groundcover/dry matter targets
• moving stock off paddocks when targets cannot be met
• minimising or timing burns carefully.

Groundcover not only protects soils but also maximises rainfall retention, reduces nutrient loss, and supports soil organic matter “sponging” water for plant growth.

Protecting soil in bare and vulnerable areas

Even with best management, paddocks can become bare and susceptible to wind erosion. Wind erosion occurs when soil particles are detached and transported by wind, particularly on flat paddocks with low groundcover and few windbreaks. Losing 1 mm of soil is roughly 10–12 tonnes per hectare, which can reduce crop yields significantly.

Emergency measures for exposed soils

• Emergency tillage: roughens the soil surface to reduce wind speed and temporarily protect soil.
  • Use slow tractor speeds (<6 km/h)
  • Create clods perpendicular to prevailing winds
  • Limit depth to produce clods without bringing fragile soil to the surface
  • Use appropriate implements (narrow tynes, chisel ploughs, scarifiers)
• Consider soil type: sandy soils are fragile and emergency tillage may do more harm than good.
• Consider landscape: avoid tilling hilltops or slopes to prevent water erosion.

Emergency tillage is a short-term solution; it does not replace the need for long-term groundcover. Establishing vegetation as soon as possible is critical to protect soils, retain moisture, and reduce nutrient loss.