Soils are an essential resource but face threats like erosion, organic carbon loss, compaction, sealing, and contamination, jeopardizing agricultural sustainability. While farmers' interest in soil principles and ecology is growing, practical methods for assessing soil health independently and at low cost are scarce.
SoilWatch aims at establishing a participatory soil health monitoring toolset integrated into a smartphone app that, simultaneously, will serve as a data collection hub. The app is intended for research, outreach, and farm-management purposes and aims at leveraging the involvement of farmers, volunteers, and citizens in soil monitoring. Participatory methods like the spade test, buried cotton underpants, Particulate organic matter (POM) and earthworm assessments provide quantitative data on the status of soil health at low to no cost. They provide direct, sensory experiences of soil, making their interpretation for land managers intuitive and actionable. SoilWatch aims at aiding land managers in taking informed soil management decisions and simultaneously contributing to a unique dataset on soil health across Switzerland and beyond.