Collaborative Soil Health Assessment: Integrating Citizen and Scientist Perspectives

Over 60% of European soils are considered unhealthy, which clearly calls for a transformation towards sustainable soil management. Taking care of our soils is imperative, since they are key components of our ecosystems and provide up to 99% of our food. Agricultural long-term field experiments (LTEs) are key to understanding how different agroecological practices affect the soil and have existed since the 1850s in Europe and beyond. LTEs can be seen as core sites that allow researchers extended measurements and monitoring of the trends and change and enable policy makers to gain a deeper understanding into soils, especially in times of climate change. However, they alone will not be able to transform the public perception of soil health and give reasons to protect and enhance soil health. Participatory citizen science is a research method that actively involves and engages the public in hands-on scientific enquiry to generate new knowledge or understanding. Most of the soil citizen science projects so far have been focusing on biodiversity, a weak point in European soil monitoring. Thus, actively engaged citizens could help to evolve our knowledge about the most appropriate field soil health indicators to test the effectiveness of different potentially sustainable soil management practices. This presentation will highlight a transdisciplinary effort from citizens and scientists in assessing soil health at a case study area in the Marchfeld in eastern Austria. We will highlight how soil biological, chemical and physical properties - key aspects of soil health - can be measured by both citizens and researchers, to assess soil health for maintaining fertile soils for future generations and ensuring ongoing food production. Promoting co-creation, fostering knowledge-sharing networks and enabling long-term communication and commitment with citizens will be highlighted as success factors for continuing transdisciplinary cooperation among diverse soil health stakeholders.