Overview of Soil Status and Soil Management

Indicate Boden Drohne

The indicators of this project create a per-plot overview of the state of the soil and the management methods used. A comparison of the current metrics with location-related recommendations as well as with reference values of comparable farms is intended to highlight the potential for improvement.

Background

Nowadays it is difficult for farmer managers to form a comprehensive picture of the state of their soil and their soil management. An assessment system for evaluating the state of the soil and optimising it with the aid of management measures is lacking. Here, it would be desirable to collect parameters in a structured manner and share them with other farm managers or extension services. Links with other aspects such as nutrient management or plant-protection measures are also missing.

Aims

In this project, indicators are developed which provide farm managers with a comprehensive picture of the current state of the soil and of soil management measures. The indicators are meant to highlight where a need for action or potential for improvement exists. They are intended to support farm managers in simultaneously optimising several aspects in a site-specific manner, for example, substance flows (nutrients and organic substances) or soil structural state (compaction and structural formation).

Management records, results of soil studies and measurements of IT-based sensor systems in machines and measuring stations are used to quantify the indicators.  The evaluation methods are developed together with interested farm managers, the Swiss Future Farm, and pilot farms of the Schaffhausen/Thurgau virtual experimental station.

Original Title

Bodencockpit [= ‘Soil Cockpit’]

Contact