Markvård

A new operating model is being tested to improve soil health

Healthy soils produce good harvests in changing weather conditions and improves soil carbon sequestration. In order to identify the reasons behind the poor condition of the field, measurements and accurate observation are needed.

Carbon Action Markvård -project operates in Uusimaa and its main goal is to help the area’s Swedish-speaking farmers develop their knowledge about measuring, observing and improving soil health.

The project creates an operating model, which farmers can use to make a plan for improving soil health in their fields. Agricultural advisors and farmers can use the operating model to find out and improve the condition of the field.

Improving soil health begins with mapping out the field water management and nutrient content, investigating the structure of the field and the internal variation of the field. Based on the mapping, an operating model is created to improve soil health.

The operating model will be developed and tested on farms in Uusimaa. The initial mappings which are done on the farms participating in the project are videotaped. The material is used to create short videos, which demonstrate how the mappings are carried out easily with devices that are most likely found already at the farm, and what should be taken into account when the mapping out is made.

The project produces artichles which provide information about the kind of problems the farmers participating in the projects face on their fields. The artichels also tell what measures are being planned to solve the problems.

In addition, presentations in Swedish are videotaped, which deal with field experiments, research methods and results. The videos make the research produced on the Carbon Action platform better available to Swedish-speaking farmers as well.