Your Soil Your Data | Resources

By Chris Warburton-Brown (Permaculture Association of Britain)

To help you get the most from GROW, we have identified some external resources that can help you better understand the importance of soil and soil data. These range in complexity from basic introductions to soil through to advanced soil databases.

Simple data can tell us a great deal about our soil. The UK Parliament’s Agroecology Group has produced this introduction to the importance of soil testing and soil data. If you want something in more depth, check out the FAO Soils Portal which contains detailed information about soil testing, soil mapping and soil databases. The OPAL Soil and Earthworm Report shows what can be achieved through a mass citizen science data gathering project.

This short TED talk by Karen Wynne introduces the vital importance of soil for the future of us all. Another TED talk by Peter Rutherford explains in more depth what healthy soil is and how we can build it. In this podcast, the Naked Scientists discuss the state of the world’s soils and what we can do to improve it.

These short guides provide introductory information about two kinds of basic soil data, soil pH and weeds.

An amazing database of soil is kept by the European Soils Data Centre. Not straightforward to use but a huge amount of data including the European Soils Database.

Finally, have you ever wondered what 20 days of earthworm action in the soil looks like in a mere two minutes? Well, now you know!