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Economic value of improved soil natural capital assessment: a case study on nitrogen leaching.

Soil survey is fundamental to assessing soil natural capital. However, over recent years there has been minimal investment in improving the quality of NZ soil survey, possibly due to poor articulation of the economic value. This paper demonstrates a positive benefit to both the farming and general community from the combination of a new soil survey, nitrogen leaching measurements, and a new mitigation technology to reduce N-leaching from dairy grazed pasture. In our study area the annual N-leaching is estimated to be approximately 25% greater than if estimated using data from the old soil survey. We argue that if nitrification inhibitors are applied to only 25% of our study area, the overall reduction in N-leaching can be improved by 10 t N/yr if the new soil map is used to target inhibitor application to the hotspot soils with the greatest N-leaching. We estimate the retained N is worth $42.49 per kg N for the farmers and the community. From this benefit alone, the cost–benefit ratio for the new soil survey is 1:6 in the first year. This study demonstrates the value of soil survey in soil natural capital assessment and its ability to provide a quick return on investment.