Soil health: Developing a holistic biological soil health test

With fruit growers keen to maximise yield potential from every soil-grown tree or plant, it is important to employ land which is in optimum health, but it can be difficult to determine the relative health of a field soil.

In this project, Niab and Verdant Carbon Ltd seek to develop a test that will reliably assess the abundance and functionality of soil microbial communities, and relay the information to the grower in a simple-to-understand metric. The work also aims to measure the health of soil nutrient (carbon and nitrogen) cycling functions, to further support environmentally positive farming.

Funder: Innovate UK

Industry partner: Verdant Carbon Ltd

Term: August 2024 to January 2026