#IYS2015 Inspiring the Next Generation to Celebrate #WorldSoilDay

Plant a tree, inspire the next generation..... Today I have been proud to represent The British Society of Soil Science, where we have been out and about around Britain inspiring school children about soil. There is surely no better way to influence the future than to awaken young people about the value an importance of soils, as medium for plant growth, for providing clean water and air. Many thanks to all my colleagues out and about around the Uk and indeed the World, who have helped celebrate World Soils day and launch the International Year of Soil. My pictures from the day around Lancaster are here.

#IYS15 On the brink of the International Year of Soil!

I am very excited.

This Friday, 5th December kicks off the launch of the International Year of Soil (IYS) and as President of the British Society of Soil Science (BSSS), as well as a Professor of Soil and Water Science at Lancaster University, I am all of a buzz.

Soil is the often hidden resource that is essential for supporting everything we do in our lives, from providing the food we eat to purifying the water we drink and supporting the houses we live in. BSSS is planning a bumper set of activities, where thirty schools across the United Kingdom will be visited by a BSSS Soil Scientist for a tree planting this week. The society will also be marking the event in the Falkland Islands with a planting, and I will be doing a planting at Lancaster Girls Grammar School in Lancashire.

BSSS is looking to raise awareness of the importance of soils, celebrate our soils, catalyse initiatives and provide a modern perspective of soil science as well as marking the start of the road to the 2022 World Congress of Soil Science which BSSS will be hosting in Glasgow in August 2022.

To celebrate the start of the week here is a link to some recent soils films including a new one from Barry Rawlins on the importance of soils and the IYS.  Please get the message out there, let's get it alive on the social media and spread the word with #IYS15

Thanks, Phil


 

On Floods and Farming……

With the terrible flooding that has been experienced around the UK this last winter, I have just taken part in a panel debate on Radio 4’s Farming Today, aired on 19th April 2014, Easter Saturday.   My role was to provide a view about the ‘science’ of flooding and farming, what we know and what we do not know.   I hope the following is a useful précis of the position…..

To what extent does agriculture contribute to flooding events?

We know quite a lot about what happens in the soil and even at the field or paddock scale, but as the scale increases so does the uncertainty about what happens at  the catchment and basin scale – so the larger the catchment, the more uncertain is the link between cause and effect.  Local flooding can be reasonably attributed to local agricultural sources, such as the treading by animals or compaction arising from trafficking, all of which affect the soil hydraulic conductivity, but larger than this there are other things that come into play – topography, local geology, urban inputs etc..

To help the debate it is important to consider the science of flooding.  A flood occurs because the rate input if water to the river channel exceeds the capacity of the channel to hold the water, hence the catastrophic effects we can often see when the rivers burst their banks.  So, anything that can slow down the water flow of the inputs is a good thing for flooding, anything that speeds it up is not…...

About 60-70% of UK land is under agriculture so clearly this is an opportunity for agriculture to play a positive role in flood management (note also, conversely there are other responsibilities too in non agricultural land 30-40% of the land area).  Consider the analogy of a sponge.  A sponge is good at holding water and that is desirable and, by and large, is reasonable to say that soil can help act in this manner – having pores spaces and a hydraulic conductivity that can help slow down and store water.  Conversely a concrete car park is the opposite extreme as it has virtually no hydraulic conductivity below the surface, and the speed of water flow away from a concrete car park to he river channel is fast.  This is very undesirable, but on some occasions the same can happen to agricultural soil, as soil becomes compacted, overland (fast flowing) runoff is increased and to return to the original analogy, the sponge becomes destroyed. 

At the soil and field scale there has been lots of good research that supports this, for example:

1.     There is a significant positive relationship between saturated hydraulic conductivity and macroporosity.  Conversely, trading by livestock has been shown to reduce macroporosity.  Presence of animals, as opposed to forestry and trees, generally reduces the hydraulic conductivity.

2.     Trafficking by farm vehicles has a similar effect on soil storage.

3.     Some research has also shown an affect of compaction in urban parks, due to foot, bicycle and urban traffic.

4.     Recent work has shown that maize, plus other late sown crops, over wintering of livestock can all degrade soil structure in SW England.

However, and this is so important in the debate, at the catchment and basin scale there is considerable uncertainty about linking the field scale affects to the flood peak, as many contributing factors come into play.  A great study published by Miles Marshall et al in Hydrological Processes in 2009 focussed on the Pontbren Catchment in Wales, a small tributary of the River Severn.  Here, they tried to overcome the issues of scale by studying plots as well as the catchment up to 10 km².  They say (I quote):

“there is little evidence to suggest that these effects propagate downstream. This does not imply that these effects do not exist, but rather that there has been little work to quantify this (O’Connell et al ., 2007) and that the effects are difficult to distinguish from catchment-scale data (Beven et al ., 2008).”  Miles Marshall et al in Hydrological Processes, in 2009

So, in summary, there is strong evidence at the field farm and plot scale, less so when we get to the large scale – just because of the complexity of real catchments. 

What solutions can farming offer?

There is no silver bullet!  However, I think that because of the sheer land are where farming is so dominant (60-70%) then there are lots of positive things that farmers can do.  As well as being food producers, farmers are inevitably custodians of the landscape and my view is that nobody knows how to manage their land better than farmers do!  So I start from the proviso that farmers know best and they do not want to lose soil and water from their land.  Back to the science briefly, it is all about slowing down the runoff, increasing the soils hydraulic conductivity – because water that is stored in the soils is better than fast overland flow.

Things that can be done:

1.     Soil mechanical management, to include use of tine to disrupt tramlines, topsoil lifting, sub-soiling, use of tine (especially on tramlines) – all of these are mechanical things that a farmer can do to improve structure and enhance pore space at depth.   

2.     Landscape management, to include hedgerows, berms, riparian areas, ponds.  Ponds offer great potential, historically there were many across the country, I am pleased to say numbers are now increasing, we have about 500000 ponds in the UK today, and more can be helpful.  In the upland, blocking upland drainage ditches can also be helpful, there is on-going work on Exmoor that is demonstrating this from Richard Brazier.

3.     Animal management.  In areas where the localised threat is obvious, over wintering of livestock outdoors is to be avoided, and measures to avoid the concentrating of livestock, for example around feed and drink troughs, should be encouraged, by regular movement of the troughs. 

4.     Tramline management.  A single pass of a shallow tine has been shown to have a positive effect from work by Martyn Silgram, spreading of straw and vegetation of tramline is also helpful.  In extreme cases, , a gantry system may be helpful to avoid creating tramlines. 

5.     Naturalizing - in some cases the use of trees can help, silvopasture systems are being talked about as having benefits, and strategic use of trees, tree shelter belts around the landscape. 

6.     ‘Hi Tech Plants’ – this is slightly ‘blue’ skies, but I was recently involved in a project where soil scientist and plan scientists collaborated to select grass plants with improved rooting properties that could be used to better retain water – there may be some hi – tech biological solutions out there.

7.     Partnerships, Tools, Strategic Assistance can be a great way forward.  In the South West (cited in Palmer and Smith, December 2013) a great initiative apparently hosted by The EA purchased and shared a subsoiler, and on 50% of the sites where it was used the soil structure was improved.  Palmer and Smith also suggest a field assessment tool for assessing soil structural stability – this has to be useful.    A great example is the National Defra Demonstration Test Catchments as a way of bringing farmers, catchments managers, residents, the EA, Rivers trusts and academics together to find a common long-term solution.  This has to be the way ahead. 

How can we prioritise between the protecting of farmland and the protection of homes?

This is difficult but we must try to do both.  What is very obvious, local hydrological connection between the farm and the flood, then we have to determine risk, and roll out strategies (outlined in the above) to cope with this.  If the risk is high and the hydrological linkage is compelling, then more of the measures above need to be used.  It is also about raising awareness and communities to deal with the flooding together.  I was recently involved in a collaborative project called the NERC Virtual Observatory where we tried to bring together farmers, agencies, and residents, to understand the issues and potential solutions, together. 

Is there choice between flood defence and food security?

Absolutely not, I do not see that it is at al helpful to polarise the debate here.  Clearly there are high-risk vulnerable flood areas that we need to take a close look at, but the most sensible solution is remembers that soil and farms are by and large well suited to retaining water, so if we can find an integrated solution with food production and reduced flooding, this has to be the way ahead.  We need to value and respect farmers as custodians of the landscape and help them, in partnerships with agencies and academics, use tools to assess risk and to find solutions together. 

P. M. Haygarth, Lancaster University, 16^th April 2014

BBC Web Story - Farming and River Pollution

Screen shot 2014-03-24 at 09.16.45
Originally uploaded by Soil & Water Science

Today Vic Gill from BBC Science released the story that she filmed with me last week in the Eden, introducing the new project where we hope to study potential climate change and land use and how it may affect farming and water quality. Here is the link to the story and the film and it maybe interesting to also view the recent training film I made on the issues for context. I also did an early morning gig on Farming Today (Radio 4) and local Radio Lancashire and Cumbria.

Filming for BBC Breakfast TV

L1660045, a photo by Soil & Water Science on Flickr.

This morning I met Vic Gill from BBC Science to do a piece on the NUTCAT 2050 project - studying land and water quality and how this may change in the future with changes in climate and land use. It was as a fun filming experience, supported by fellow NUTCAT team members Michael and Mary. Thanks all.

Film of the BSSS 2013 Annual Conference

Just look at all the fun you are missing of you are not a member of the British Society of Soil Science!

'NUTCAT' Steering Group - Thank-you!

L1660037, a photo by Soil & Water Science on Flickr.

Yesterday the NUTCAT 2050 team met in Birmingham with our steering group - the first of the annual steering meeting and had a terrific session with our invited distinguished 'steerers', with lots positive feedback and reinforcing advice. Thank-you!

Selfie - Soil-Water Training - in the Eden!

Untitled, a photo by Soil & Water Science on Flickr.

It has been another great day of training PhD students, this time today I joined Ben Surridge's course in the beautiful Eden Valley and at the equally as impressive Habergill Centre. It was a beautiful dusk drive through the Eden and into the Lune.  Here is a selfie just before the lecture and - some additonal photos here.

A busy and fulfilling week- #Soilunderfoot

Originally uploaded by Soil & Water Science

Last week was a terrific experience.

In collaboration with my colleagues John Quinton (from Lancaster University LEC), Kathryn Alton (from the British Society of Soil Science BSSS) and Helaina Black from the JHI in Aberdeen, we ran a week long NERC funded doctoral training course for soil PhD students focussing on PG level soils.  I was PI and the run up to the course had been quite time consuming and had posed a few worries and headaches, but supported by the great team it all came together very well - thanks to all the inner team and to the additional contributing lecturers (David Powlson, Jac Hannam, Dick Thompson, Willie Towers, Sacha Mooney, Wilfred Otten, Matt Aitkenhead, Andrew Binley).

We had 24 students and what was so exciting was that we were using some funky techniques for the lectures and teaching.  Both John and I have made some training films (with Dependable Productions, a terrific company led by my long term friend Richard Critchlow, so good to work with) on soil-water transfers and soil-security and we have asked the students to work with us to make two more after the course.  Additionally, we also ran some live lectures by the team, and some of these are still available as a legacy from John on Soil Security, Helaina on Soil Biology (can be viewed here and by myself on soil water transfers.   Throughout the cpousre we were running questions and live interatiosn on twitter (#soilunderfoot)

We also tried some working group activities where we asked teams of students to consider a high level soil science question which had to be presented back to the group in 'The Apprentice' style on the final morning.  It proved highly successful and was also a lot of fun.  Congratulations to 'Team Kathryn' for winning he student vote for the best proposal!

We had some terrific some feedback from the students.

"I wanted to say thank you to you all for a fantastic week at Soil Underfoot. I have learnt so much and look forward to going through all the material you very kindly put up on moodle for us. It was a great opportunity to meet other people in the same sector and get to know more about the current research that is happening all over the county and beyond, also to hear what your visions of the future are.  

I do hope that you are able to run course like this in the future so others can gain from the experience (even the late nights). I got a lot out of the group challenge just getting in to that mind-set was a challenge. I thought there was a nice balance of field work with lectures and practical sessions."

 Karen Walmsley, Harper Adams 

and how about this news just in....

I am pleased to inform you that I defended successfully today my PhD thesis titled ''Mobility and Bioavailability of Arsenic in Ochre Amended Soils''.​Thank you for organising the NERC Doctoral training course, 'Understanding the soil underfoot'. It helped me in the preparation for my viva.

Joseph Olimah, University of Reading

Feedback doesn't get better than that!

All worry was worth it!  Congratulations and thanks to all, some photos from the final day taken by Dependable Productions are here.

Phil Haygarth

Lancaster, 12th March 2014 

Movie: An introduction to Soil-Water Transfer

I am excited to have just completed this movie as part of a NERC
Doctoral Training, in collaboration with the British Society
of Soil Science and The James Hutton Institute.  The Film Team were Dependable Productions.   Thanks to the EdenDTC and the Eden community
for assistance in the making of this film.  Please use and share!  Phil

A great new BBSRC Phosphorus Team!

Untitled, a photo by Soil & Water Science on Flickr.

This week I was privileged to host a brand new team meeting at Lancaster to tee off the new BBSRC project on better utilization of soil organic P. It was a first coming together with staff contributing from Africa, China, Brazil, Scotland, England and the USA! It's going to be a good one folks! Here are a few photos of the gathering. A video will follow!

Sharing experiences on catchment change

Originally uploaded by Soil & Water Science

We recently ran a workshop in the River Eden valley, at the Crown Inn in Morland to share catchment, climate and land use change experiences, in living memory. The meeting was introduced by guest speaker Dr Peter Falloon from the Met Office Hadley Centre in Exeter, who set an interesting tone presenting the data and uncertainties in weather and climate patterns in the Eden over recent years. It was enthusiastically attended by farmers from the Lune and Eden Valley, as well as academics and other stakeholders. One observation by one of the more experienced farmers was a note that the big changes he had witnessed over his lifetime were (1) mechanisation and (2) the influence of genetic innovation, particularly for dairy animals. A few snaps from the evening - including a dinner of stew and chips and a couple of pints - are here.

Team 'NUTCAT' visit EdenDTC

Originally uploaded by Soil & Water Science

Recently a number of us from the new NERC 'NUTCAT' funded project had a tour of the EdenDTC, with a particular focus on Morland. The NUTCAT Project is concerned with 'helping to understand and improve water quality in our rivers - present and future' and you can learn more about the project here and view a few of the wet and wintery scenes here.

LEC's RGS Ambassadors

L1020634
Originally uploaded by Soil & Water Science

Here is a 'selfie' taken last week with the impressively bearded Simon Faulkner from the Royal Geographical Society, together with Lancaster Environment Centre's stalwart Geography Ambassador, Dan Flanagan. Dan, trained by Simon, has been out and about in the schools around the country spreading the word about Geography. Last week Simon, aided by Dan, trained another enthusiastic bunch of LEC ambassadors and the cycle starts again. Nice job everybody!

Recruiting - Phosphorus PhD project at Lancaster University and Rothamsted

We have an exciting PhD studentship oportunity and we are seeking high quality applicants.

This fully funded PhD studentship is part of the NERC ENVISION Doctoral Training Programme and is an excellent opportunity to work on the development of novel measures for tracing phosphorus

This project will use a novel stable isotope technique to better understand phosphorus (P) cycling within the plant-soil-water system. By advancing fundamental understanding of P biogeochemistry, the project seeks to address challenges related to plant nutrition and agricultural production, alongside the protection of water quality. The supervisory team offers access to knowledge and facilities related to phosphate oxygen isotope research across the UK and Europe.

The key objectives of this studentship will be to:
1) Understand the partitioning of newly-applied P between individual soil P pools;
2) Understand the bioavailability of P within individual soil P pools, and the mechanisms through which P in these pools is accessed by organisms;
3) Understand the mobility of soil and plant P fractions within soil water and the risk of export of P in runoff or leachate from the plant-soil system.

For Full details please see The Envision Site

best wishes

Phil