'Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity' is this years World Soil Day slogan! Here at Organic Farm Knowledge we aim to provide practical tools which promote sustainable agricultural practices. Soil is rich with life, with complex communities playing and important role in agroecosystem functions. Organic agricultural practices aim to protect and improve soil biodiversity and capture the benefits. This is done by providing a rich supply of organic matter, diverse habitats through crop rotations and intercropping and refraining from soil disturbing management practices.
To celebrate World Soil Day, we would like to draw your attention to our Soil quality and fertility theme which feature around 130 tools!!
Here we highlight some interesting soil-related tools, according to topic and language:
- Soil testing:
- Visual
- Visual soil assessment: field guide for cropping: This guide helps you visually assess the quality of your soil and determine the origin of soil degradation to promote sustainable soil management practices (EN)
- Healthy Grassland Soils Pocketbook: A guide to easily assess and record and scores gassland soil health, as well as suggestions how to avoid compaction and improve soil structure (EN)
- The Muencheberg Soil Quality Rating (SQR): A field guide for detecting and assessing soil properties and limitations through visual assessment (EN)
- Simple building blocks for improved soil fertility – Look and judge yourself: This field guide explains 4 simple steps to judge your soil and soil management (NL)
- Spade test soil assessment:
- The Spade test - Visual soil assessment in the field: A video explaining how to take out a handy soil profile and how to interpret it, using the spade test (EN, DE, FR, HU, IT)
- Soil Doc: Mobile application which guides you through the spade test and the observations for a complete soil assessment (EN, DE, FR, IT)
- SOILapp: Mobile application and website guiding you through the spade test (EN, IT, GR)
- Spade test: Guide to implementing the spade test (FR)
- Assessing soil structure with two simple methods: Spade Test and mini 3D soil profile: Video explaining how to do a spade test (FR)
- Soil quality:
- Soil quality test kit guide: A guide to fully assess your soil; soil quality, respiration, infiltration, bulk density, electrical conductivity, pH, nitrate, and more! (EN)
- Visual
- Soil organic matter & humus balance:
- Regionally adapted humus balance in organic farming: This guide shows you how to calculate humus balance in crop rotations (DE)
- Challenges of Organic Arable Farming 1st module: Strategies to enhance soil fertility and assessment of soil fertility and quality: A six module series covering challenges of organic arable farming. The 1st focuses on SOM and fertility (EN)
- Soil-friendly management practices:
- Direct sowing, reduced till, no-till:
- Direct sowing with green manure: A practice abstract about directly sowing maize into mulch (BG, EN)
- Reduced Tillage Systems - Practical Recommendation: Video instructions on mechanical and agronomic weed control (EN, HU)
- Bringing the dirt to your doorstep: organic no-till weed management: A video explaining how to combine no-till and organic and to obtain a good weed management (EN)
- Cover crops:
- Autumn cover crops: A practice abstract explaining is to drill cover crops that protect the soil before the arrival of winter frost and low temperatures (EN, IT)
- Cover crop mulches and no-till maize: A practice abstract explaining how to avoid weed problem in maize, while conserving soil (EN, IT)
- Choosing cover crops for arable crop rotations: A practice abstract providing a decision tree for selecting adequate cover crops in arable crop rotations (EN)
- Growing cover crops in organic arable crop rotations: best practices from Denmark: This guise explains Growing cover crops the right way, right timing, right position in the rotation (EN)
- Direct sowing, reduced till, no-till:
Simply click on the tool name in the list above to directly enter the tool! Using the Disqus chat function, at the bottom of a tool, you can make comments and rate the tool. We love to have your feedback!
We have been working hard to expand the platforms themes and therefore increase its capacity for a diversity of useful tools. Included in this restructuring, 'Soil' will now be its own theme with three subthemes:
- Soil quality
- Soil biology, and
- Soil management
We look forward to including many more tools which will enable land users to protect and enahnce their soil in the very near future, stay tuned!
Further information
Links
un.org
fao.org