Delivering a decision-support framework - soilquality.org.uk
Lead Research Organisation:
National Institute of Agricultural Botany
Department Name: Centre for Research
Abstract
This project aims to design, develop and implement an innovative web-based decision support platform (soilquality.org.uk) for improved soil management in UK arable and lowland grassland systems. Using levy funding, farmers' demand for tools to manage soil health has been met in Australia through soilquality.org.au. The soilquality.org.au platform, which provides the ability to compare individual test results within a robust decision-support framework, is unique and highly valued by farmers' organisations. Working with collaborators in Australia, we will update, extend, and adapt to UK conditions, the established soil quality monitoring framework - soilquality.org.au. By extending the existing framework using the capabilities of mobile devices, this project will incorporate data from sensed and manually captured indicators, including in the field, to provide timely support and give a farmer-focused analysis of soil conditions.
Our new UK decision support platform (soilquality.org.uk) will integrate interpretation of existing measured soil quality indicators (largely chemical with some physical and biological) together with information on management strategies that can be used to address any identified constraints to production. To develop the platform for the UK we will bring together farmers, consultants, and scientists, within a partnership to support development and delivery of a web-based decision platform that meets the needs of farmers, farming organisations, and policy-makers allowing all stakeholders to take site-specific soil quality issues into account when planning and managing resilient and sustainable crop and grassland production for the long term. The project team is built on strong existing collaborative relationships which have developed and applied soil science within the agricultural industry for over 15 years; an integrated approach will link the strengths of the project team at Newcastle University, SRUC and in the applied research/consultancy (GWCT, ADAS, BGS), with the farming and advisory sectors.
Poor soil management in the UK costs farmers money as a result of lost production and also leads to negative environmental impacts adoption of the soilquality.org.uk framework is expected to significantly reduce these costs. The transformation in approaches to soil management enabled through use of the innovative web-based platform (soilquality.org.uk) will support sustainable productive arable and lowland grassland systems in the UK.
Our new UK decision support platform (soilquality.org.uk) will integrate interpretation of existing measured soil quality indicators (largely chemical with some physical and biological) together with information on management strategies that can be used to address any identified constraints to production. To develop the platform for the UK we will bring together farmers, consultants, and scientists, within a partnership to support development and delivery of a web-based decision platform that meets the needs of farmers, farming organisations, and policy-makers allowing all stakeholders to take site-specific soil quality issues into account when planning and managing resilient and sustainable crop and grassland production for the long term. The project team is built on strong existing collaborative relationships which have developed and applied soil science within the agricultural industry for over 15 years; an integrated approach will link the strengths of the project team at Newcastle University, SRUC and in the applied research/consultancy (GWCT, ADAS, BGS), with the farming and advisory sectors.
Poor soil management in the UK costs farmers money as a result of lost production and also leads to negative environmental impacts adoption of the soilquality.org.uk framework is expected to significantly reduce these costs. The transformation in approaches to soil management enabled through use of the innovative web-based platform (soilquality.org.uk) will support sustainable productive arable and lowland grassland systems in the UK.
Planned Impact
There are a number of beneficiary groups linked to this project; these are listed below together with a description of the benefit that will be gained
Agricultural industry
- Providing improved evidence to underpin recommendation for adoption and local adaptation of more effective soil management
- Supporting targeted reductions in agricultural inputs (fertilisers, pesticides) by enabling improved understanding and management of soil function supporting crop growth
- Providing a basic toolkit (with clear description of approaches to sampling and analysis with tools for site-specific interpretation) that can be used to screen proposed management practices in terms of impact on soil function
Academia
- New knowledge through the integration of current understanding of the links between soil properties and the ecosystem functions which soils support.
- Developing interdisciplinary expertise by providing integrated methodological approaches for the communication of soil quality information in ways that support decision-support effectively. which may be applied to other industry sectors
- Development of skills portfolio of postdoctoral researchers and research investigators through interdisciplinary approaches that stretch individuals' understanding and skills base
- Enhanced fundamental understanding of links between soil quality and function together with opportunities for agricultural innovation across a range of climates and conditions by working with Australian partners
Public sector - support for evidence based policy-making
- Providing improved evidence to underpin evaluation of impacts of farming practice on soil quality and function within agri-environment schemes
- Providing a toolkit (sampling, analysis, interpretation) that can be used to screen agri-innovations in terms of impact on soil function
Agricultural industry
- Providing improved evidence to underpin recommendation for adoption and local adaptation of more effective soil management
- Supporting targeted reductions in agricultural inputs (fertilisers, pesticides) by enabling improved understanding and management of soil function supporting crop growth
- Providing a basic toolkit (with clear description of approaches to sampling and analysis with tools for site-specific interpretation) that can be used to screen proposed management practices in terms of impact on soil function
Academia
- New knowledge through the integration of current understanding of the links between soil properties and the ecosystem functions which soils support.
- Developing interdisciplinary expertise by providing integrated methodological approaches for the communication of soil quality information in ways that support decision-support effectively. which may be applied to other industry sectors
- Development of skills portfolio of postdoctoral researchers and research investigators through interdisciplinary approaches that stretch individuals' understanding and skills base
- Enhanced fundamental understanding of links between soil quality and function together with opportunities for agricultural innovation across a range of climates and conditions by working with Australian partners
Public sector - support for evidence based policy-making
- Providing improved evidence to underpin evaluation of impacts of farming practice on soil quality and function within agri-environment schemes
- Providing a toolkit (sampling, analysis, interpretation) that can be used to screen agri-innovations in terms of impact on soil function
Publications
Stockdale E. A.
(2021)
Advances in measuring soil health
Stockdale Elizabeth
(2018)
Developing a Practical and Relevant Soil Health Toolkit for UK Agriculture
Description | To develop the soilquality.org.au platform for the UK we brought together farmers, consultants, and scientists, within a partnership to support development and delivery of a web-based decision platform that meets the needs of farmers, farming organisations, and policy-makers allowing all stakeholders to take site-specific soil quality issues into account when planning and managing resilient and sustainable crop and grassland production for the long term. In the first phase we successfully carried out a benchmarking process for existing soil indicators - pH, extractable P, extractable K, extractable Mg, visual assessment of soil structure and soil organic matter - which provided suggested ranges and targets/thresholds for these indicators. In the second phase we tested the practical protocols for the collection of these data on-farm and in the final phase we have piloted a visual approach to data benchmarking in Soil Quality Scorecard Dashboards. The project delivered an output that was valued by farmer and other stakeholder testers. Users found the site relatively intuitive to use to support the interpretation of data and to guide soil management. The majority of users felt that the information would be used in discussion with others and aid site-specific decision-making; discussion in farmer benchmarking groups and with an agronomist were both identified as key routes for learning and identifying the best combinations of soil-improving practices to put into place on their particular farm. On-farm advisors saw an opportunity to use such tools within farmer discussion groups: "I would definitely be keen to use this within the setting of my Facilitation Group. I like the very visual presentation." |
Exploitation Route | The combination of physical, chemical and biological inidicators together with the appropriate ranges and targets/ thresholds into soil quality scorecards are already being applied in other projects seeking to measure / test soil quality in farming systems. The broad approach has been adopted via AHDB, especially within the 5-year (2017-2021) Soil Biology and Soil Health Research and Knowledge Exchange Partnership. AHDB expressed an interest, and would like to be associated with the tool, if it is to be further developed in the future. NRM and Anglian Water have also expressed an interest in the further development of the tool to support interpretation of soil quality measures and the provision of decision-support for farmers seeking to adopt soil-improving practices. Additionally, the tool could be developed to support on-farm monitoring linked to the new Farming Rules for Water and/or to collate data from on-farm monitoring to provide an industry database that would help inform DEFRA's 25 year environment plan objectives, similarly to the way in which the Professional Agricultural Analyst's Group (PAAG) provide a simple digest of the results of soil samples submitted for analysis annually. Some initial discussions have taken place with Defra's ELMS team - but the proposal for further development of the approach in this context is currently on hold. The focus in this project has been on lowland agriculture and on mineral soils; but similar approaches could be developed for soil management in lowland peat soils, upland areas and other sectors e.g. orchards, amenity. |
Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink |
Description | The research has underpinned the use of a soil health scorecard approach within famring assurance schemes from 2023 and aligns with policy developments under the Sustainnalbe Farming Incentive (SFI) standards within ELMs |
Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink |
Impact Types | Policy & public services |
Description | AHDB Soil Biology and Health Research Partnership |
Amount | £1,000,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Agricultural and Horticulture Development Board |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2017 |
End | 12/2021 |
Description | NEC06484 UK: mySoil-sample, crowdsourcing digital soil data from industry and policy |
Amount | £124,822 (GBP) |
Funding ID | NE/R009244/1 |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2018 |
End | 06/2019 |
Title | Farmer pilot - soil quality indicators dataset |
Description | Data collected with farmer groups Soil properties data collected in the field Results of laboratory analysis of soil samples collected Site location and management data |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | None yet -database is in use to develop the pilot interpretative outcomes |
Description | Expert group - soil indicators |
Organisation | Royal Agricultural University (RAU) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Meeting organisation Workshop structure and consultation |
Collaborator Contribution | Workshop attendance Discussion |
Impact | None yet |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Expert group - soil indicators |
Organisation | Wye and Usk Foundation |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Meeting organisation Workshop structure and consultation |
Collaborator Contribution | Workshop attendance Discussion |
Impact | None yet |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Faciliation of farmer pilots |
Organisation | Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Co-working with the partner to engage with an existing farm business group as a pilot group for this project |
Collaborator Contribution | Group co-ordination; meeting room provision |
Impact | Active farmer pilot group |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Faciliation of farmer pilots |
Organisation | SAC Consulting Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Expert input to farmer meetings Access to information / pilot software ahead of market |
Collaborator Contribution | Co-ordination of farmer group (building on existing links) Facilitation of meetings |
Impact | IFS Proceedings publication - Proceedings 824 |
Start Year | 2016 |
Title | Soil Quality Scorecard Dashboard |
Description | Soil Quality Dashboard (SQD) takes the data from a database (created separately) which holds a mixture of in-field observations and laboratory reported soil tests and then uses these data within a pilot web-based platform which: • provides information on the measurement and interpretation of the selected soil quality indicators together with information on management to address constraints to production. • gives users opportunity to compare site-specific soil quality data with data collected in the region / soil type, to explore data relationships and to understand site-specific soil quality issues. |
Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | Valued output by farmer and other stakeholder testers. Users found the site relatively intuitive to use to support the interpretation of data and to guide soil management. The majority of users felt that the information would be used in discussion with others and aid site-specific decision-making; discussion in farmer benchmarking groups and with an agronomist were both identified as key routes for learning and identifying the best combinations of soil-improving practices to put into place on their particular farm. On-farm advisors saw an opportunity to use such tools within farmer discussion groups: "I would definitely be keen to use this within the setting of my Facilitation Group. I like the very visual presentation." |
Description | Expert group informing indicator sets |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Expert group bringing information together to inform the selection of indicators for use in the pilot phase and the derivation of targets/ thresholds for use in benchmarking |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Farmers' Weekly interview and article |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Farmers Weekly interview and follow up article which featured the project - 3rd June 2016 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Stakeholder engagement groups |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Regional workshops (6) which promoted discussion about the project, the intended outputs and soil quality measurement on farm. The outputs helped shape the web tool design; many of the farmers and industry stakeholders engaged in this project have subsequently become involved in other soil quality / heath work including as AHDB monitor farmers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |