“To be a successful farmer one
must first know the nature of the soil.”
Socrates
The #soilmyundies initiative is trying to encourage farmers to test
their biological soil health. Farmers must bury a pair of white 100% cotton
boxers in the top 6 inches of soil and then dig them up 8 weeks later. The extent to
which the underpants have been decomposed in this time reveals the level of soil microbial
activity.
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Fig. 1 Scottish farmer 'soils his undies' to test soil health and
fertility (Source: Farming UK)
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Have you thought about encouraging the farm you used in for your dissertation research to try this out? Could be cool!
ReplyDeleteHahaha good idea Ruth!! They might consider it unprofessional… but that’s the whole point! It would be interesting to compare the results of a dry, sandy Kenyan soil (like the one on my dissertation farm) to loamy moist UK soils!
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