Soil Health Institute’s Post

SHI Research Soil Scientist Dr. Dianna Bagnall presented her poster, “Image-Based Estimation of Aggregate Stability Using the Slakes Family of Tools,” at the ASA, CSSA, SSSA 2024 Bouyoucos Summer Conference in Puerto Rico. Aggregate stability, one of the most common indicators of soil health, is now easier to measure using SHI’s Slakes app. Dr. Bagnall’s poster describes the selection of the Slakes method, the current use of the method, and two approaches to using Slakes – the smartphone app and the SlakeItEasy R package. Slakes uses a smartphone camera to take a picture of three dry soil aggregates before and after exposing them to water for ten minutes, then automatically calculates an aggregate stability value. In regional soil health surveys across the U.S. and Canada, Slakes has revealed mean increases in aggregate stability of 10-20% due to tillage reductions and/or cover cropping. The #Slakes app helps scientists and land managers assess the impacts of management decisions on soil health. Have you used SHI’s Slakes app yet? If you have, share your results with us in the comments! #SSSAConf

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Well - this is fascinating... The Mulloon Institute held it's inaugural conference last week and our science team lead by Peter Hazell released a broad range of scientific data covering 50kms of the Mulloon Creek Catchment over the last 18 years to show how the catchment is responding to the instalment of over 60 leaky weirs..... And the results are fantastic. Significant growth in biodiversity - birds, frogs, fish, invertebrates, vegetation, etc. A significant jump in water quality - now "extremely fresh". And all our Mulloon landholders spoke about their relief from "water stress." Previously the creek used to run dry, now the creek is always full. But, here is one statistic that blew my (non-scientific) mind.... After we installed leaky weirs in the lower Mulloon floodplain (after 2018), the water exiting this newly repaired system (moving down creek to lower catchment landholders) increased by 610%. Yes, that's right - 610%. Why? Well the evidence suggests the installation of leaky weirs allowed the lower Mulloon floodplain to become "sponge full" during this period, so instead of water soaking into the previous "dry sponge" floodplain (and not moving down creek), the water could no longer be absorbed, so it moved down catchment to lower landholders.... Admittedly this was during a "wet" period (2018-24) but the increase in the newly repaired floodplain (610%) was significantly higher than the 48% increase in the already repaired Mulloon Home Farm floodplain. Once we let this stat hydrate our minds, I think it's revolutionary. So, you want to increase flow in creeks and rivers across our great dry continent? (as well as increase biodiversity and agricultural productivity)? It's easy. Install leaky weirs.

What is a food web? Understanding this is fundamental to increasing your yield. What is a food web? A food web (or food chain) is a representation of the relationships that exist between species in an ecosystem. A food web is a diagram that shows the feeding relationships of various species within a given ecosystem, from top to bottom. How do we build a food web? Building a food web involves identifying what are called “ecosystem engineers” (i.e. animals and plants that influence other species). For example, if you look at a pond or lake, you will notice many different types of plants, algae, insects, fish and birds. A food web would represent the relationships between these various species, as well as the relationships between the organisms themselves. Why are food webs important to understand?  A: Food webs are a type of ecological network that models the interactions between organisms and their environment. They're https://lnkd.in/gizucvs4

Tracking the health of Aotearoa's waterways is vital. After an excellent collaboration with Wilderlab, Ministry for the Environment and Regional Councils we have published a new eDNA-based index for river nutrification - it's called the TICI. Simon Jarman and I wrote this piece in 'The Conversation' which has a link to the paper. Check it out: https://lnkd.in/g_Kx797s

Hello #connections I am glad to share that I have completed an END TO END Project based on #machinelearning. This is a model to predict the proper crop in a particular area based on some environmental factors. 📎 Don't forget to explore the attached PDF slides (Posted Previously) for a deeper dive for this project 📄🔍 A special thanks to Santanu Bera,Deepsankar Bhattacharya and Sudipta Dey for the successful completion of the project. #machinelearning #machinelearningmodels #randomforest

Hello #connections I am glad to share that I have completed an END TO END Project based on #machinelearning. This is a model to predict the proper crop in a particular area based on some environmental factors. 📎 Don't forget to explore the attached PDF slides (Posted Previously) for a deeper dive for this project 📄🔍 A special thanks to Santanu Bera, Priyanshu Mondal, Sudipta Dey for the successful completion of the project. #machinelearning #machinelearningmodels #randomforest

In order to estimate the environmental efficiency of sheep farms and develop a mathematical model to simulate the economic performance of sheep farms for Tasks 3.3 and 3.4, the staff of the project partner Cukurova University conducted a survey study in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. During the study, around 15 pastoral farms were visited and farmers were introduced to the PASTINNOVA-Mediterranean pastoral systems. Family-managed, transhumance and industrial farms participated in this fieldwork. #PASTINNOVA #PRIMA

Calculating land area and location size at the last-mile can be a complex task, but TaroWorks 7.4 is here to simplify the process. With our improved mapping functionality, your field teams can now access satellite imagery offline, enabling them to visualize and analyze their surroundings even in areas with limited connectivity. Furthermore, the ability to create shapefiles on the go enhances land area calculations and visual verification, ensuring that your field data is enriched with precise geographical insights. This is a critical feature for applications in agriculture, environmental conservation, WASH, and more. Watch the webinar recording for a full demonstration of this great feature! https://buff.ly/4eQMU2U

Get to know the farmland before making it part of your operation with our new tool, AcreVision! This farmland evaluation tool was built specifically with farmers in mind. The best news, it is one of the added benefits of having a free FBN membership. Haven't checked it out yet? This video will give you a glimpse at how simple this tool is and how much insightful information you will receive about the parcels of land you select! What are you waiting for - try it out for yourself! https://lnkd.in/gnP7HYhv