The digital soil consultant: research shows farmers what is happening under their fields
Many farmers in Germany have long been feeling the effects of climate change in their fields. There is less rain, summers are getting hotter and harvests are falling short of expectations. In addition, there are new political requirements and higher demands on environmental and soil protection. But which crop rotation protects the soil best? Is different fertilization worthwhile? Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig have developed a free online tool to help answer such questions.
What's behind the tool?
BODIUM4Farmers is the name of the program. It is based on a computer model called BODIUM, which was developed by the UFZ as part of the "BonaRes - Center for Soil Research" research project. The model calculates how soils react to changes - in cultivation, weather and fertilization. "Soils are complex systems in which a large number of physical, chemical and biological processes take place at different spatial levels," says UFZ soil researcher Dr. Ute Wollschläger. Because soils react very slowly to new conditions, this can hardly be observed in real experiments. The computer model closes this gap. It simulates the most important processes in the soil as realistically as possible and does not have to be reset for each individual area.
An important difference to other programs: BODIUM thinks holistically. For example, it takes into account how tiny pores in the soil change depending on how the soil is worked and which living organisms live in it. These pores influence how much water the soil stores and how well plant roots can grow. Other important processes such as the storage of carbon or the movement of nutrients in the soil are also included in the calculations. "Our model differs from other soil models in its holistic approach," says team leader Dr. Sara König.
Soil knowledge for agriculture
Farmers select their arable land on an interactive map. The tool then combines this with local weather data from the German Weather Service and existing soil information. Users can then run through various scenarios: What happens if I grow a different type of crop? What if I fertilize less? How will my soil change in drier summers?"
The result shows, for example, how the harvest, carbon storage, water storage or nutrient losses would change. It is also possible to estimate how efficiently nutrients such as nitrogen are retained in the soil. "The tool also provides farmers with important soil knowledge that many have not been taught in detail in their training," says Wollschläger.
Commonly developed, free to use
However, there are also clear limitations. The tool does not give exact figures for the future. For example, it cannot predict exactly how much carbon will be stored in the soil in 30 years' time. It shows directions. "We recommend using scenarios for at least two crop rotations in order to identify trends," explains König. A crop rotation describes which plants are grown in which order on a field, usually over several years.
The tool is available free of charge. BODIUM4Farmers was developed together with farmers in workshops. The first farms are currently using the program and providing feedback so that it can be further improved. In the future, it should also be usable for farms throughout Europe.
