The EU Soil Strategy for 2030 describes the layer of soil as this 'magic carpet' which takes thousands of years to be produced. [pane] App running on the SPOTTERON Platform has been recently released to explore this important resource and investigate the soil health across farmlands, grasslands and gardens.
The [pane] project led by the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin) and in partnership with the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) and Museum für Naturkunde Berlin – Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Research encourages citizen scientists who have an access to a piece of land or a garden to explore and find ways to improve the land by comparing how different farming methods may affect the soil health. In the [pane] App "methods are available for determining several important indicators of soil health, such as humus content, water retention capacity, and earthworm population. Recording accompanying data, such as soil type, weather, and farming practices, can further help to better interpret the results".
As part of [pane] project 15 partners of community-supported agriculture (SoLawi) are involved in documenting soil health across their fields. SoLawi in the [pane] project is defined as a form of participatory and sustainable food production. More detailed description and additional resources regarding SoLawi history and concept available on the project website (in German) here.
Find the [pane] App - Citizen Science for Soil Science in the App store for iOS or Android or open the interactive map in the web browser: [pane]
If you are interested to learn more about the diversity of the Citizen Science Apps running on the SPOTTERON Platform, welcome to explore the App page:
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