ARTICLE : Taking soil testing machines to farmers

By Mohd Mustaquim, Delhi | RURAL MARKETING                                                                 

Sat, Jul 4th, 2015 (03:03:58 PM IST) Section: Industry Category: Agriculture
 

WS Telematics, a Delhi-based company, is providing low cost and easy to operate soil testing machines to farmers. The company plans to increase its reach to every gram panchayat to help farmers enhance productivity by getting their soil samples tested. Mohd Mustaquim reports

Santosh Jha, 34, a farmer at Bhalpatti village in Muzaffarpur district in Bihar, tests his soil samples on his own and buys fertilisers for his paddy and maize fields as recommended by his soil testing and fertiliser recommending machine.
He does not have to rush to the nearby Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Farm Science Centre), at Jale for soil testing. During his visit to Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela in New Delhi in March 2015, he bought a Digital Soil Test and Fertiliser Recommendation Kit. The kit not only tests soil samples of his fields, but also recommends the quantity of fertiliser for maize and paddy.

Soil health scenario
Though, Green Revolution increased the farm production sharply in India and made the country self reliant in food production and even exporter of many cereal grains. However, due to lack of awareness and availability, farmers use easily available urea in large quantum while ignoring the phosphorous, potassium and other micro-nutrients. “We were absolutely unaware about this machine, even about soil testing. Earlier, I used to pour fertilisers, mostly urea and DAP, randomly,” says Jha.

The insufficient availability of these fertilisers is also a major roadblock in using them adequately. The excessive and non-judicious application of fertilisers have deteriorated the soil fertility in many parts of the country.

Furthermore, it is also polluting the groundwater and environment. Due to this, the Bhatinda region of Punjab today has become infamous for being the centre stage of the deadly disease, cancer.

Including KVKs, there are around 1,000 soil testing laboratories functioning in India. However, they are not sufficient to test soil samples of every farmer. If a progressive farmer wants his soil samples tested, he has to wait for 15 days to one month to get his chance in the laboratory. Also, the big number of KVKs are lacking manpower and basic infrastructure.

Conceptualisation
Meanwhile, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi had been working on an innovative low cost and affordable soil testing machine called, Pusa Digital Soil Test and Fertilizer Recommendation (STFR) Kit, for more than a decade. Later, its commercial manufacturing license was awarded to WS Telematics, a New Delhi-based company, which launched the machine last year. The kit not only tests the soil, but also recommends the crop-wise fertilisers.

Now, the company is supplying the kit to the individual farmers, farmers’ groups, universities and KVKs. The kit comprises of Digital STFR meter, a mini shaker, accessories kit, glassware kit, reagent kit and a thermal printer. The individual farmers, who are not educated enough, can easily operate the machine due to its simplicity, just after two-days of training.

“I have studied only till 9th class, but I can operate the machine easily,” says Jha.
Features
The kit has testing features for organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, zinc, sulphur, boron, electrical conductivity (salt content), pH test for acidic or alkaline nature of soil, lime test for acidic soil and gypsum test for alkaline soil.

About the machine, Wazir Singh Dahiya, director of the company says, “The soil testing can be done within one and half hours at the doorsteps of farmers. The system gives accurate and reliable digital results. It helps in determining the available nutrients in the soil and the dosage of fertilisers, preventing deterioration.”

“We have developed two models. The basic model priced at Rs 30,000 does not have a thermal printer and connectivity facility with the computer. Thus, after testing the soil, the farmer has to note down the results and fertiliser recommendations manually. However, the second model, which costs at about Rs 45,000, can provide printed results and the data can be stored in a computer for long-run,” Dahiya further adds.

He claims that five samples can be tested simultaneously in one and half hours time. Each sample needs a reagent chemical, which costs Rs 100, to be mixed generously. On the sale of the machine, the company provides a kit of 50 reagent samples.

Farmers’ feedback
Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela brought a big breakthrough for the machine. “Before the Mela, the machine was covered in an IARI’s programme, broadcast by Doordarshan. It resulted in farmers’ curiosity and many of them came to the fair just to the purchase the machine. In three days, around 70 farmers booked the machine,” says Dahiya.
The machine was fully launched with all features in November last year. So far, the company has sold 400 machines.

Outreach

WS Telematics has sold the machines across the country, from Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, to Northeastern states.
So far, the company is reaching to the farmers directly. Alongside, it has made a small network of distributors in a short span of time. “But, many people have shown interest to be part of our distribution network. So, we are increasing the numbers,” informs Dahiya . He wants to increase the reach to every village of the country, at least every gram panchayat.

Promoting entrepreneurship
A machine can sufficiently serve a village or gram panchayat. A villager can set up a small scale entrepreneurship by testing soil samples of the farmers.

“The government has recently launched soil health card scheme. Here, without any burden on the government, we can test soil of the country and also develop entrepreneurship in the villages,” Dahiya adds.

Promotion strategies
Without making awareness among the low educated people and farmers, it is very tough to make this product successful. Thus, the manufacturer promotes the machine through local media campaigns and sends direct messages to the farmers. Besides, it participates in the agriculture fairs.

To avail the benefits of the machine on larger scale, the company wants the government to provide subsidy for the machine to small and marginal farmers.

SOURCE : http://www.ruralmarketing.in/industry/agriculture/taking-soil-testing-machines-to-farmers

ARTICLE : Urban Farm Hack: Improve Soil With Sheet Mulch

Avoid weeds and build soil with sheet mulch—it’s a heckuva lot easier than weeding the garden!

Lynsey Grosfield | Urban Farm Online

 

There are few places in the natural world—short of deserts, beaches and rocky landscapes—where the earth stands bare and exposed. Generally, soil wants to be covered.
The plants that many of us call "weeds” in the garden are those plants that are successful at colonising and covering bare soil. Often they’re the hardiest, most efficient plants from the local ecosystem, with either long taproots; fibrous, deep-penetrating root networks; and/or minimal water and nutrition needs. When soil is disturbed from weeding or tilling, these plants rush in, or spring from the soil seed bank, in order to fill in the blanks. Therefore, in covering up the soil, weeds provide ecological services: They shade and cool the soil, which helps reduce evaporation, while their foliage traps humidity at the ground level.

Sheet mulching—aka, using successive layers of biomass to cover the soil—is a permacultural gardening technique that mimics the ecological services weeds provide, while suppressing their growth. Sheet mulches create a rich, non-disrupted soil ecosystem where mushroom mycelium can run and decomposers, detritus-feeders and soil-dwelling organisms can exist without interference. Current soil science recognizes these organisms as part of a vital web of soil life— one that is disrupted through tilling, which ultimately leads to soil depletion.

A sheet mulch can consist of a thick layer of cardboard or newspaper with soy-based inks, manure or compost, grass clippings, seaweed, leaves, straw, or bark chips. As with compost, it’s important to consider the carbon to nitrogen ratio of your soil. Generally, sheet mulch will fare better if it’s high in carbon, consisting mainly of "browns” like cardboard, dead leaves, straw and wood chips, as thick layers of "greens” tend to form anaerobic mats. Desired plants can be top-worked or drilled from above. All of their nutrition needs will be provided by the mulch, which will in turn hold water like a sponge and suppress the growth of competitor plants.

Over time, successive sheet mulches build a rich humus soil and can divert almost all paper, cardboard and yard "waste” to soil-building material, all the while reducing the amount of time spent weeding, watering and fertilizing.

About the Author: Lynsey Grosfield is the founder of BiodiverSeed, a global seed swap network devoted to the exchange of self-harvested, organic and heirloom seeds with the goal of preserving maximum genetic diversity. Follow BiodiverSeed on Twitter.

SOURCE : http://www.urbanfarmonline.com/urban-gardening/backyard-gardening/improve-soil-with-sheet-mulch.aspx

NEWS: ‘Mulching’ to reduce water and chemical consumption

Mulching basically involves application of a protective layer of material to the field soil surface just after sowing any crop.

Written by Anju Agnihotri Chaba | Jalandhar |  Indian Express | Published on:July 2, 2015 1:36 am

Amarjit Singh employing mulching in his sugarcane-urad intercropped field.         

After sowing turmeric around late-May/early-June, Avtar Singh covers his entire field with a 3-4 inch-thick layer of paddy straw. “I do it so that my crop and the soil get proper shade from direct sunlight,” says this farmer from Mullanpur in Mohali district of Punjab, while referring to a practice known as ‘mulching’.

But wouldn’t having such a thick cover hinder germination? “On the contrary, germination is advanced by 10 days when compared to the non-mulched field, while giving me at least 10 per cent more yield,” claims Avtar.

Amarjit Singh of Gharuan village in the same district also does mulching in his sugarcane-garlic intercropped field, using 4-5 tonnes of paddy straw to cover one acre with the help of 5-6 labourers in a day. “Mulching requires extra labour, but it does wonders by improving soil health and saving water. And it needs to be done only once, at the time of sowing,” he notes.
 Mulching basically involves application of a protective layer of material to the field soil surface just after sowing any crop. The material could be organic and biodegradable (paddy straw, sugarcane bark, dry grass, trees leaves and even newspaper) or inorganic and non biodegradable such as polythene sheets.

According to GS Butter, Head of Agronomy at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in Ludhiana, mulching is very effective for pest management and disease control.

“Weed seedlings cannot survive under the mulch, which also means not having to use chemical weedicides. Besides, mulching reduces evaporation from the soil bed. This not only brings down the frequency of irrigation, but also protects the soil from erosion,” he explains. Surjit Singh, a retired PAU scientist, points out that biodegradable mulches like dry paddy straw contain 50-70 per cent nutrients that slowly decompose in the soil, enhancing its fertility even without using fertilisers.
“Mulching creates an ideal environment for earthworms and other beneficial organisms to grow on the soil. We have been recommended mulching for turmeric, potatoes, sugarcane, melons and all types of vegetables,” he adds.

Sadly though, only a few hundred out of Punjab’s 12 lakh-odd farmers practice mulching. A state with the country’s highest average fertilizer and pesticide usage, apart from 75 per cent of its area under the ‘dark zone’ signifying severe groundwater scarcity, ought to be paying more attention to such environment-friendly practices.

Punjab, moreover, produces an estimated 38 million tonnes of straw annually, over half of which is from paddy. While wheat straw is used as cattle feed, there is no such use for paddy straw. About 80 per cent of the latter — some 16 million tonnes — is simply burnt in the fields after harvesting to clear the land for the next sowing. This abundant straw can potentially be used by every farmer for mulching, thereby addressing a major source of air pollution in the state.

“Unfortunately, farmers here want everything the easy way. Rather than putting some extra labour in utilising paddy straw for mulching, they prefer burning it,” observes Surjit Singh. Amarjit Singh from Char Ke village in Jalandhar says that crops normally require irrigation every second day during the summer months. But with mulching, the watering requirement is only after 7-10 days, depending on the crop. “There are hardly any weeds and pests in my fields and nor is there need really for using chemical fertilisers,” says this farmer, who uses sugarcane bark for mulching in his four-acre field where he grows sugarcane inter-cropped with ‘ma-ki-dal’ (i.e. urad or black gram).

At the Punjab government’s Centre of Excellence for Vegetables in Kartarpur near Jalandhar, set up under an Indo-Israel project, scientists are showcasing vegetable cultivation using polythene sheets for mulching.

“We use 30 micron sheets to cover the entire fields. Even the open space between the bed rows is covered in order to control weeds. The vegetable seedlings are transplanted in the soil through holes in the sheet that are a few inches apart to maintain plant-to-plant distance,” says Daljeet Singh, who heads the Centre. The sheets, he informs, would cost Rs 12,000-13,000 per acre and can be used in two or more seasons. The polythene mulch enhances crop yields by keeping the soil warm in winters and providing much-needed moisture to the plant in the summer. “We are growing the best-quality tomatoes, brinjal, capsicum, chilly, cucumber, bitter gourd and round gourd under plastic mulch at this centre,” he adds.

SOURCE: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/mulching-to-reduce-water-and-chemical-consumption/2/#sthash.y3Bd7l82.dpuf

ARTICLE : Farmers field school in Jharkhand shows the way in integrated farming

Authored By :

Sharat Singh

Sanjay Gorai

Amita Bhaduri

Posted By : Amita Bhaduri

Posted Date : Sun, 2015-06-14 15:38

 

The School has taught farmers how to use waste from their farms as inputs in their farming system. Other organic practices have improved the soil profile and water holding capacity of the fields.

A farmers field school at Angara

Chedua Bedia is a 47-year-old marginal farmer from Dubulabeda village, Angara block of Ranchi district. In addition to being a successful farmer, Chedua has founded a school and motivates other farmers from his village to attend classes! This is a special school called the Farmers Field School where groups of farmers learn how to integrate the various components of agriculture into their farms.

The Farmers Field School
The School, which was set up by Chedua along with some other farmers, was supported by SPWD, an NGO that promotes the concept of Sustainable Integrated Farming Systems (SIFS) for small and marginal farmers. The schools began with a focus on single crops such as paddy, groundnut etc., but as the group matured it moved on to integrating the various components of agriculture. The schools are run throughout the cropping season. The curriculum of the school was designed taking into consideration various aspects of farming and to equip farmers with the knowledge needed to develop their SIFS farms. Farmers receive training on how to manage crops, waste and pests. Meaningful discussions are held in the farms on crop growth, climate, soil conditions and constraints to crop production. Based on these observations, farmers make informed decisions to increase yields and improve the soil fertility of their fields.
These schools now serve as the training ground for new farmers. The schools are run by lead farmers under a facilitator and a master trainer. This form of class has helped the farmers gain confidence. They also discuss among themselves, raise questions, and attempt to find solutions by visiting the field. Leaders and farmer-trainers of the Schools are provided training at regular intervals.
Chedua's story
Chedua in his farm
Chedua is a model farmer today but, just three years ago he barely did any farm planning though he owned multiple assets in his 5.5 acre of farmland. Most of it lay barren and he could only cultivate one crop in his 2 acre lowland. He commited a few mistakes that resulted in crop losses but his farming practices were typical to what most practiced in his village. During monsoons, he cultivated a few traditional paddy varieties. This would give him a meager yield of around 3 quintals an acre. He used this for his household consumption and supplemented this with the grains he got from the public distribution system.

The only nutrient available in his farm comprised of farmyard manure, which was inadequate due to the few animals he had. He depended on bulky chemical inputs which cost him Rs 3500 per acre. Farm income being too little, Chedua had to migrate to the nearby city of Ranchi for labour work between February and May. In drought years, his situation used to worsen because of the irregular monsoon. Chedua admits, “my produce was insufficient to meet the household food security requirements. As a result, we were buying cereals and built up a hefty loan”.
Sustainable Integrated Farming Systems (SIFS) virtually replicates nature
Chedua’s farming system was faced with problems because of what experts call the breaking up of the ecology-farming linkage. Until a few decades ago, the agriculture in the area depended on internal resources. Organic matter was recycled and environmental degradation had not set in. Agricultural yields though modest, were steady. Multiple crops were grown in the farms, and rotation of crops provided more nitrogen, which assured healthy soils. In addition, pest and disease outbreaks like the ones seen these days was not common.
Thanks to the School, Chedua and many others were saved. ‘SIFS imitates nature by not only utilizing crops for production, but also varied types of plants, animals, bird, fish, as well as other aquatic flora and fauna’ (1). According to Karunakar Aruk, a field activist involved in the work, "These resources are pooled and used in a manner that the waste of one is recycled as resource for the other. This energy efficient system enhances the overall yield, income and nutrition of the people". 
Azolla production for improving the health of the livestock and the ducklings reared by the farmers
Chedua started integrated farming by dividing his farm for different purposes. He introduced high quality seed materials and made a shift from single to triple cropping system. He cultivated cash crops like pea, potato, and off season vegetables like tomato as summer crops. Mixed cropping of maize and dwarf beans was done in the monsoon season. He introduced organic manuring practices to enhance the soil nutrient status. Crops, cattle, ducks and hens formed a part of the self-sustaining cycle. Small ponds were dug to help harvest water received from the 1400 mm average annual monsoon.

After adopting the SIFS approach, Chedua got 11-12 qtl/acre of paddy as against a yield of 3 qtl/acre earlier. Chedua earned a profit of Rs 25000 and Rs 12000 respectively in two seasons from his homestead land by cultivating vegetables using organic practices. He used this income to purchase an electric motor for irrigation purposes. His household is also able to consume pesticide-free, healthy produce these days. This was just the beginning. A little later, he was also able to change his straw roof to asbestos sheet roof by investing Rs 40000 from the enhanced incomes from shifting to SIFS approach.
Chedua says that the adoption of organic practices has improved the soil profile as well as its water holding capacity. Also, the crop biodiversity is being maintained. He is glad that he has a steady income from his farming system and does not need to go out for wage work. Not only is he cultivating his own land but also that of others on rent basis. 
Farmers of nearby villages have replicated his farming practices. Chedua now plans to produce his own seed materials for paddy and vegetable, and is looking forward to some training on quality seed production. He also hopes to cultivate pure organic produce from his farmland on a large scale. Farmers in his village are confident that this approach will stand the test of time. The lush paddy fields of Chedua stand as a proof of their assertion.
"We finally have regular nutritious food at home", Chedua’s wife beams with assurance.
Endnotes and references
(1) A facilitator’s manual: Sustainable Integrated Farming systems, Welthungerhilfe 2014
(2) The article deals with a program implemented by Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development with support from Welt Hunger Hilfe. The program’s outreach is in twenty-five villages in Arsha block of Purulia and Angara block of Ranchi.


SOURCE: http://www.indiawaterportal.org/articles/farmers-field-school-jharkhand-shows-way-integrated-farming

ARTICLE : Only 60 Years of Farming Left If Soil Degradation Continues

Generating three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years, a senior UN official said

 

December 5, 2014

 By Chris Arsenault

ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Generating three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years, a senior UN official said on Friday.
About a third of the world's soil has already been degraded, Maria-Helena Semedo of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told a forum marking World Soil Day.
The causes of soil destruction include chemical-heavy farming techniques, deforestation which increases erosion, and global warming. The earth under our feet is too often ignored by policymakers, experts said.
"Soils are the basis of life," said Semedo, FAO's deputy director general of natural resources. "Ninety five percent of our food comes from the soil."
Unless new approaches are adopted, the global amount of arable and productive land per person in 2050 will be only a quarter of the level in 1960, the FAO reported, due to growing populations and soil degradation.
Soils play a key role in absorbing carbon and filtering water, the FAO reported. Soil destruction creates a vicious cycle, in which less carbon is stored, the world gets hotter, and the land is further degraded.
"We are losing 30 soccer fields of soil every minute, mostly due to intensive farming," Volkert Engelsman, an activist with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements told the forum at the FAO's headquarters in Rome.
"Organic (farming) may not be the only solution but it's the single best (option) I can think of."

(Editing by Ros Russell)

SOURCE: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/only-60-years-of-farming-left-if-soil-degradation-continues/

Soil security on the political agenda

ABC Rural 

By Professor Alex McBratney and Andrea Koch | First posted Sun 23 Mar 2014, 9:07pm AEDT

Soil security refers to the maintenance and improvement of soils worldwide so that they can continue to provide food, fibre and fresh water, contribute to energy and climate sustainability and help to maintain biodiversity and protect ecosystem goods and services.

It is a realisation that soil has an integral part to play in addressing the major existential issues facing the world today, and in fact 'soil security' is, and has to be recognised as, one of those issues.

When an international coalition of scientists got together to form the Soil Carbon Initiative, convened by the United States Studies Centre and the Faculty of Agriculture and the Environment at the University of Sydney in early 2011, they realised that carbon may be part of a solution to climate change but 'soil security' itself is the keystone issue.

Since then discussion has widened in an attempt to bring policy on soil security in line with that on food and water security.

A one-day meeting was held in Washington DC in September 2011, and in April 2012 the Australian government held a workshop on soil security at the UN in New York in relation to the Rio+20 negotiations.

It was hosted very ably by the Australian Ambassador to the UN, Gary Quinlan.

Neil McKenzie, Rattan Lal and Alex McBratney spoke.

Soil science has been searching for a grand narrative that plays out globally, soil security provides that, and places soil scientists in a key position for contributing to the earth’s future sustainability.

Alex Mc Bratney and Andrea Koch 

The University of Sydney held a one-day symposium on this topic in July, which was very well covered by the media.

Speakers included Rattan Lal and Johan Bouma.

A short symposium was organised during Global Soil Week in Berlin in late November, at a meeting organized by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany, and its international partners

Our colleague Robert Hill, former environment minister and UN ambassador, has been integral to the organisation of all of these meetings.

The first global conference on soil security is tentatively planned for April 2014.

A paper explaining the concept further has been submitted to a global policy journal.

Soil security is more than simply soil quality or soil health and currently research is focussing on its scientific, economic, social and policy dimensions and how they can be quantitatively evaluated.

The Australian government has played a key role in bringing soil security to world attention.

Both Kevin Rudd and Bob Carr, as foreign ministers, have been briefed on the subject.

Prime Minister Gillard appointed ex-Governor-General Michael Jeffrey as the official national advocate on soil, showing that soil policy has reached a level of importance in government circles.

Grass roots movements like Carbon Farmers, have brought soil to the national attention.

We are fortunate at the present time to have advocates of great stature like Michael Jeffrey, Penny Wensley and Robert Hill.

Soil science has been searching for a grand narrative that plays out globally, soil security provides that, and places soil scientists in a key position for contributing to the earth’s future sustainability.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-23/alex-mcbratney-andrea-koch-soil-matters/5332762

Why is soil missing from the 'big five' environmental questions of our time?

ABC Rural 

By Professor Johan Bouma | First posted Sun 23 Mar 2014, 9:07pm AEDT

Can farmers feed 9.5 billion people by 2050?

Before focusing on soils we would be well advised to first consider a broader picture.

Crop yields are determined by many factors such as crop varieties, occurrence of pests and diseases, and socio-economic conditions allowing profitable farming.

Aside from this, sometimes up to 40 per cent of production gets lost in developing countries while being stored and transported.

In so-called developed countries up to 40 per cent of food is thrown away. More than one billion people are obese, so what does it really imply: feeding the world?

Important, therefore, to make a distinction between what does happen and what might happen, and not become discouraged.

The good news is that, indeed, farmers will be able to feed 9.5 billion people in 2050, but only when we get our act together in society as well as in the scientific arena. In this context, let's talk about the role of soil science.
Environmental concerns are by now widely shared; but where do soils come in?

Numerous strategic studies and reports have appeared on the state of the world and certain environmental concerns are most often mentioned: food security, freshwater availability, climate change, energy security, biodiversity loss.

No soil means no food, no fresh water, no climate mitigation by soil organic matter, no energy crops and no biodiversity!

Professor Johan Bouma

I like to call these, the 'BIG FIVE'.

Soils are usually not mentioned but we know that no soil means no food, no fresh water, no climate mitigation by soil organic matter, no energy crops and no biodiversity!

But we still have a job to do to better frame our soil expertise in terms of its relevance for these major issues.

The BIG FIVE are often listed separately and, being human after all, agronomists have a tendency to start the list with food, while hydrologists start with water, etc.

But the BIG FIVE should, of course, not be ranked in a sequence of importance nor should they be considered separately, as they are closely related.

Think of a food narrative, relevant for our story. Sustainable food production with modern techniques, such as precision agriculture, can result in clean water, soils with higher organic matter contents and a higher production potential as well as preservation and enhancement of biodiversity.

All this is land-based and here soil science logically enters the equation as a key element of the narrative. So, indeed, what vision is needed for the planet's soils? 

Challenges for soil science

Excellent ,cutting-edge science is produced in soil biochemistry, physics, biology, paedology and pedometrics.

But we are less successful in integrating our expertise, characterising the dynamics of soils as they occur in characteristic patterns in the landscape.

Soil science, like many other sciences, suffers from 'atomisation'. What to do? Four suggestions:

The first thing to do internally is to better integrate our sub-disciplines, using a range of modern information technologies.

Modern dairy farms electronically control the health of their cows and fine-tune feeding patterns. What can be done with cows can be done with soils.

We rightly raise alarms about the loss of 30-50 billion tonnes of soil per year due to soil erosion and degradation on the one hand, while we know on the other hand, that techniques to successfully combat these problems are available.

Professor Johan Bouma

Second, we should better communicate with the societal and policy arena and do so with specific examples in the context of narratives as described above. Here, use of soil types is helpful.

To some this is old-fashioned, but I don't agree.

Realise that every soil has a story to tell, a fascinating story of how she was formed and how she functions in terms of potentials and limitations.

It's like a human interest story! But a footnote can be attached here: soil types are defined by soil taxonomy, based on permanent soil properties.

However, a given soil type behaves quite differently following different types of management, such as when, for example, growing crops, grass production or being part of nature preserves.

They are still the same soil type, but different behaviour and different soil properties.

When soil maps are available, go back and see what different forms of management, forming what we call phenoforms, have done to the soil.

Results of thousands of 'experiments' are right there in the field to be observed for free.

Every soil type has a characteristic story to tell: some are vulnerable, some are quite resilient. Some react strongly to innovative management, some don't.

Once degraded, some soils don't succeed to recover, others just bounce back. Some easily accept water, others drown. Again, it is like a human interest story.

Third, we should be honest with ourselves.

We rightly raise alarms about the loss of 30-50 billion tonnes of soil per year due to soil erosion and degradation on the one hand, while we know on the other hand, that techniques to successfully combat these problems are available.

The key problem is acceptance and implementation by land users of measures to combat soil degradation.

As they currently are, our research routines tend to focus on writing proposals to obtain funds for research, next on performing research resulting in as many publications as possible and then writing new proposals.

No surprise, then, that implementation of research results is a problem.

A major research program on sustainable agriculture in the Netherlands has shown that to ensure implementation, much effort should be paid to interaction with stakeholders before any project starts.

What do they really think and feel? We should learn from psychologists that sending a message does not necessarily imply that this message is received the way we intend it to be received.

During and particularly after a project, continuous involvement of researchers who are blessed with 'high social intelligence' is needed. We call them, 'knowledge brokers'.

They don't just pass along knowledge, but are part of a joint learning process with stakeholders.

A project is only successful when there are visible results!

Most environmental problems are land related and soil scientists are particularly suitable to act as 'knowledge brokers'.

Fourth, and final.

Facing up to different conditions due to climate change, we should pay particular attention to soil resilience and its capacity to absorb extreme events in future.

Soils that can, should be protected with vigour.

For this, simulation modeling of soil processes is essential and much additional effort is needed to incorporate relevant soil data in agronomic, hydrological, climate and ecological models. So far modelling hardly include soil data or, at best, some standard numbers from databases.

This way, future behaviour of soils cannot be simulated in ways they deserve, as living bodies in a landscape.

Finding optimism in the challenge to double food production

ABC Rural 

By Dr Damien Field and Professor Alex McBratney | First posted Sun 23 Mar 2014, 9:07pm AEDT

Since humans have dominated the landscape we have cleared vegetation and created cropping areas, and concomitant with clearing these has been a growth in population.

In industrial times the growth in population may have been greater than the soil’s capacity to deal with this in a sustainable way.

This statement is not unequivocal and is still a matter of much research and debate.

Human transformation of soil has led in some areas to what is termed degradation where the soil’s condition has deteriorated.

However there are also examples of where human management has led to improvements in the soil’s condition for human purposes relative to their natural state.

Currently there are large areas of the world with poor soil condition relative to their natural state and smaller areas where the condition is better than the natural state.

The soil cover is capable of feeding and clothing the world’s population although distribution of the products remains a challenge.

There is a need to increase production, by about 50 per cent over the next four decades on an equivalent or slightly smaller area of soil.

We need to also do this while reducing inputs and minimising the effect on the environment.

We are optimists and we believe we can meet this challenge.

We believe that science and technology properly invested and implemented will produce knowledge and systems that can address these challenges.

Education, connection of communities and sound public policy are also equally required. So in short our answer is ‘yes’. Secure soil will help feed the world.

We believe the emerging concept of soil security will address these challenges.

Soil security is concerned with the maintenance and improving of the world’s soil resource to produce food, fibre and freshwater, contribute to energy and climate sustainability, and maintain the biodiversity and the overall protection of the ecosystem.

There are five dimensions that frame soil security, addressing the biophysical challenges, and equally, the socio-economic concerns.

The dimensions of 'capability' and 'condition' are concerned with what the soil can do and recognise that soil change occurs over geological, as well as the human timescales and is affected by the soil’s use and management.

This concept also explores how a ‘value’ needs to be placed on the soil so the soils capital can be estimated, as well as the need to support the development of good soil policy based on relevant knowledge and understand how people are connected to the soil.

These five dimensions framing the assessment of the soil’s capability, condition, capital, connectivity and codification are broad and speak to a wide and varied audience and in doing so, will address the concerns of the growing population, ongoing land degradation, climate change and other global challenges being faced by us.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-23/damien-field-alex-mcbratney-soil-matters/5335580

Organic Farmers

By Shubhada Pandhare

Published on 14 Apr 2013

• Category

  • Education

• Licence

  • Creative Commons Attribution licence (reuse allowed)

SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mJrDgZxRTo