Alec Mackay – President
AgResearch

It was an honour to be elected to the post of President by the members of the Society at the Conference in Rotorua. I have been on the NZSSS council for more than 10 years and was fortunate to be John Adams’ Vice-President. When I look at the calibre of the returning Council members, the vice- President and the new faces, we have a pretty formidable team to progress the aims of the Society over the next two years. We also have a new editor and co-ordinator for Soil News. Iris is very keen to see more discussion and debate through Soil News and the council would endorse that view.

For those of you who do not know me I am a Senior Scientist and Programme Leader in AgResearch in the ‘Land and Environmental Management Group” based on the Grasslands campus in Palmerston North Research capabilities include soil science (chemistry, resource description and land use), natural and organic systems and environmental reporting.

I have two closely aligned research interests. In land use my interest is on the impacts of intensification of pastoral agriculture on key soil functions. This research also addresses wider land use issues, including an active involvement in the Sustainable land use initiative with Horizons Regional Council that was born out of the devastating flood in February 2004, whole farm planning and environmental planning and reporting (www.projectgreen.com). I was a principal in the development of SUBS (Soils Underpinning business Success) education package developed to assist land managers gain a few simple easily learned skills for describing and mapping their own soils.