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Our new Nordic network is focusing on soil health

Network – Sustain Nordic soil health (NetSH) has got funding from Nordic Joint Committee of Agriculture and Food Research (NKJ).  The goal of NetSH is to share knowledge on sustainable soil management. We will do so by facilitating knowledge exchange among Nordic researchers and by bridging gaps between research and practice on soil health.

NetSH will focus on how to adapt soil management, plant production and organic matter amendment to improve and sustain soil health in Nordic agricultural soils. We will discuss the most relevant methods for soil health assessment and pinpoint strategies and tools farmers may use to improve and sustain soil structure, aggregate stability, and soil biology; all factors which are vital parts of soil health.

NetSH consists of 25 participants from Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden with different backgrounds and roles. NetSH includes scientists, disseminators, and agricultural advisers, all of whom work with soil in organic or conventional agricultural systems. In 2021 we will arrange a one-day online Workshop, managed by NORSØK. A partner from each country will give a presentation on successful strategies and tools used to improve soil structure/aggregation/biology in different soil types/climates and/or productions. The strategies and tools will be discussed and linked to relevant agricultural systems in each country. In 2022, we plan a physical meeting where we intend to summarize and present the best practises.

Project is coordinated by Norwegian Centre for organic agriculture (NORSØK) and other project partners are Finnish Organic Research Institute (FORI), University of Aarhus (Aarhus UNI), Research Institute of Sweden (RISE), Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and University of Helsinki.

Project coordinator:  Reidun Pommeresche reidun.pommeresche@norsok.no

Author:

Reidun Pommeresche and Sari Iivonen, photo: Reidun Pommeresche

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