We had a great expedition last week that took us to the heart of the irrigated rice country along the NSW side of the Murray River.

Land managers have spent much of their land preparation time, levelling, scalping and preparing the soil for rice production but interestingly many seldom dig a pit to monitor what is going on as a direct result of their top soil modifications.

It was interesting to see the water movement, or lack there of, in soils that have extended periods of ponded surface water coverage yet the soil profiles are not utilising the water efficiently through the respective profiles.