Register for free to
view the full innovation profile.
We use scientific evidence to collaborate with stakeholders to progress towards balanced agricultural practices.
About
Earthwatch Europe is part of a range of research partnerships looking at measuring the impact of citizen science, advancing and sharing best practice in participant engagement and integration and complementarity of citizen science and other monitoring methods and technologies. For example, we are coordinating MICS, an EU H2020 project developing an AI supported platform to measure the impact of citizen science projects on the environment, economy, science, society and governance. We are also a core partner of the EU H2020 project EU Citizen-Science, which established a central platform for sharing citizen science projects, resources, tools and training across Europe. We have successfully worked with the farmer community using citizen science. The engagement with farmers in our projects has enabled them to be part of the solution by monitoring the impact of their management regimes and inspired them to develop, implement and monitor new interventions. Through the FreshWater Watch projects, we have focused on water quality and agriculture related runoff. For example, in the UK we have run a pilot installing coppice bundles on exposed agriculture soils, trapping soil and thereby preventing erosion, a key cause of lower crop yields. Lower crop yields increase dependence on fertilisers, which can lead to local water pollution. We collaborated with small woodland owners and farmers to find a sustainable nature-based solution - waste wood products, known as coppice - to prevent soil erosion and reduce nutrient run off into water bodies. We have since expanded to look at both soil and water in the farming context, integrating a soil monitoring tool (Soil Health Toolkit) in our methodology. We are currently implementing this in 3 projects in The Netherlands, working with Wij.Land (local landscape of Commonland); Deltaplan Biodiversiteit, and the Province of Noord-Brabant (as part of the LIFEIP All4Biodiversity programme); and in China, as part of a supply chain project with Tate & Lyle. In these projects we are working with farmers ranging from conventional to innovators in regenerative agriculture. Our approach of codeveloping these tools with the farmers has proved highly effective in ensuring we meet the needs and challenges of all stakeholders involved, get their buy-in from the start and increase the extent to which scientific evidence is actually taken up in decision-making.
Key Benefits
It is a desktop and mobile (iOS & Android) enabled app, which allows for users to fill in data surveys offline and synchronise once again connected to the network. It also includes functionality that allows users to order shipment of any kit equipment needed for measurements (paid or unpaid). For example, for FreshWater Watch we developed a low cost easy to use kit containing nitrate, phosphate and turbidity tests. As in all our supporting online tools, the focus is on keeping the app simple and intuitive for data collection in the field. The web-platform offers additional value with more sophisticated functionality to view and interpret the data and where we set-up dashboards. Some of the key functionality of the current Earthwatch FreshWater Watch and our upcoming other tools such as the Soil Health Toolkit (ArcGIS Hub): 1. User log ins and profile – role/hierarchy based (GDPR compliant) 2. Group management (including emailing, data analysis, export/add/remove members, integrate other measurements, assign sampling locations, upload private data) 3. Event management 4. Geo-location 5. Dashboards 6. Data instant feedback and advanced visualisation (data maps, digital storytelling, download & share) 7. Surveys (simple, easy to navigate, flexible with possibility to customise and add parameters based on group requirements) 8. Social networking and blogging 9. Gamification elements 10. Public pages 11. Multilingual (Freshwater Watch is currently available in 8 languages, including Spanish and Italian) 12. Automated and free of charge updates 13. Training videos Our work on soil health and farmer engagement with regenerative agriculture, has taught us that there are many relevant parameters that can be measured, yet farmer’s time is very limited. We have found that it is most effective to ask for measurements on a small number of core parameters, and make any additional observations optional only. This increases farmers’ motivation to take measurements in more locations and more often, increasing their insight into the health of their soils. In our current soil monitoring tool, we have 5 core variables, which we collect together with a few context fields, these are: • soil texture (grain size - sand, clay, peat; using a flow diagram), • soil colour (using Munsell charts); • earthworm count (in 20*20*20 cm volume of soil, total count with option to count 3 worm types and adults and immatures separately); • water infiltration rate (using a simple infiltration ring); • % plant cover (both using the free canopeo app and through field estimates) The app allows us to add other measurements, and to do so specifically for certain groups of projects, which creates maximum flexibility. All agronometric indicators mentioned in the call for proposals can be added, mostly with limited kit requirements. We also have extensive citizen-science experience in measuring soil compaction with a penetrometer via our nature-based solutions projects. Earthwatch would not only be able to offer a simple, intuitive, multilingual app but also: 1. A citizen-science based methodology for easy field measurements, based on no cost / low cost equipment; 2. Existing science-based soil health assessment methodology as well as water quality and soon to be added biodiversity; 3. Expertise in co-creation processes to further evolve and innovate these tools to meet the changing needs of farmers and researchers throughout their learning journey; 4. Connected to a web-platform and data explorer that integrates the field data with other data sources; and experience in integrating citizen-science based data with other methods and technologies (see the Data Explorer); 5. In-house scientific expertise on a range of environmental issues and technologies, including sustainable agriculture and integration with sensors and AI.
Applications
Collaboration between gov, NGO’s, business, farmers and public