Julie Ingram, who is currently in Australia as part of an OECD Research Fellowship, has been working on a special edition of the journal ‘Soil Use and Management’. Julie and Lisa Lobry de Bruyn (University of New England) were guest editors for the journal which brings together a number of insights from Australia, USA, and Europe about the generation, exchange and use of information and knowledge building for sustainable soil use and management, predominately in agriculture.
CCRI researchers feature in a number of the papers which offer a range of perspectives from people who span disciplinary and practice boundaries, including soil scientists working as extension agents (with direct contact with farmers), citizens, and project coordinators, as well as social scientists who seek to understand and explain farmer learning.
The editorial for the journal written by Julie and Lisa (which can be read here) provides an overview of the themes for the papers which have been grouped the papers into four broad topics:
- Analysis of overarching themes for Sustainable Soil Management
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Soil information sharing: combining online and field activities; new audiences; and evaluating use
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Extension – building skills in soil information interpretation, audience trust and identifying learning needs
- Collaborative approaches and farmer networks: supporting knowledge building
Papers in the Special Issue illustrate how two key questions are being addressed. First, how can we share the outputs from decades of soil science activity together with building an open access and interoperable soil information platform that combines the science with the local context, allows user data input, and is inclusive of local soil knowledge and pluralism or multiple views? Second, how do we build knowledge about soil amongst land managers, and those who support them, to enable them to both manage the soil sustainably and optimise the use of all sources (traditional and newly emerging) of information?
The special edition of the journal can be found via the following link and for specific access please check for updates.
Volume 35, Issue 1 – Soil Use and Management: Soil information-sharing and knowledge building for sustainable soil use and management: insights and implications for the 21st century.
