There is an increasing demand for soil expertise among organic and conventional growers. This ‘soil revival’ involves a more comprehensive approach to soil stewardship, including such key issues as soil fertility, soil carbon, soil biology and soil health.

Farmers and growers are the project’s main target group, although parts of the project are designed with agricultural advisers in mind. There is a lot of soil science expertise at NORSØK, with numerous projects dealing with topics such as soil quality, nutrient supply, carbon storage, soil biology and soil assessment methodology.

Project activities in 2021-2022:

• Arrange two extensive courses about comprehensive soil assessment for agricultural advisers
• Cooperate with the Norwegian Agricultural Advisory Service (NLR) on improving their soil-related advisory services
• Arrange 1-day workshops about the soil assessment program Jordlappen
• Increase awareness of soil health and soil biology (Markløftet 2021 – project)
• Adapt Jordlappen to soils with high organic matter contents
• Cooperate with NLR on arranging field days about soils and soil biology
• Soil carbon banks – Develop and apply Excel-based tools
• Publish articles about soil, soil biology and soil ecology

The ‘Soil Spotlight’ (Jordsatsing) is part of the cooperation between NLR and NORSØK. The project is a follow-up of the ‘Pioneer County’ project about soil.