Monitoring & Metrics
The measurement and monitoring of soil over time is crucial for understanding changes in its health and the impact of any inputs and processes - and as such must form the cornerstone of any future soils policy.
Whether this is carried out at nationwide or on-farm level, the metrics and methodology need to be universally agreed and adopted as these provide the foundations for the subsequent regulatory and subsidy framework, a national picture of soil health and a common understanding of the steps needed to address it.
Issues and topics which we will address through our Monitoring workstream include:
What are the right indicators for measuring soil quality?
At what interval should soil monitoring take place in order to generate a useful national picture of soil health and track progress over time?
How can on-farm and nationwide soil monitoring be connected?
How should ‘public goods’ be defined as they relate to soil?
MONITORING OUTPUTS
“We need a soil monitoring programme to understand the direction of travel and to provide evidence that our actions are working.
”