As field seasons end and the temperature drops, our work pivots inward–taking the results we’ve collected and moving them through the pipeline toward analysis, and making process observations and improvements that will serve us in upcoming seasons. Now is the perfect time for digital collaboration.
Data
We’re currently designing the parameters of our Farmer’s Coffee Shop – a digital benchmarking service to support information sharing and strategic decision-making.
As we build out our user tools, we need your insight! We’re looking to engage with a large number of farms and research communities this winter to identify your needs and interests.
What metrics are most important for the work that you do?
What information about farm practices are you most interested in seeing?
How do you record, share, and compare data?
Do you have established methodologies that you’d like to introduce so that other groups could contribute to your projects?
Contact Adie@our-sci.net to get the conversation started!
Community
Our-Sci recently had a piece published in Commonplace, an online space concerned with digital infrastructure and knowledge systems. Read the essay, and join the discussion, at their site.
Our own Greg Austic presented on a panel at the Organic Confluences 2021 conference, entitled “Radical code: Open source technologies for organic agriculture”. You can find out more about this virtual conference and participate in future events here >>
Updates
The Bionutrient Institute is expanding its area of inquiry to a new category: Beef.
“The intention is not only to define nutrient density but to connect it directly to the nuances of farm management practice, particularly as it pertains to animal forage and feed…Extending this research into meat is an exciting frontier.”
One of Our-Sci’s core missions is to create community-driven, affordable, easy-to-use tools to capture information about soil and environmental health. To that end, we’ve created SoilStack, an app designed to support smart soil sampling, capturing patterns of spatial variability and guiding users through field collection in a transparent, replicable, and user-friendly way.
Screenshots of a demonstration test field in SoilStack
How It Works
The key power of SoilStack is in its ability to crunch large amounts of relevant information to create a sampling plan that captures the full complexity of a site in the fewest possible points. SoilStack pulls data from a range of sources- from plant growth indices to topographic maps to soil-specific information- to build a robust picture of the diversity within a given field.
It then fetches and processes those layers for you, stratifies them into unique zones, and returns recommendations for how many soil samples are needed based on levels of variability and user preference–delivering a functional map that tells you where and how much to sample.
This is our goal: an open-source, all-inclusive, flexible tool to make better decisions about soil sampling, while maintaining clear permissioning and the ability to adapt to future needs. As we work to make SoilStack both powerful and easy to use, we need your feedback! Are you part of a community that needs soil sampling support? Are you interested in testing the next generation of SoilStack? Contact our team at info@our-sci.net, and let’s make a plan to turn your dirt into soil.
Upcoming Events
The 35th annual NOFA/Mass Winter Conference is taking place both digitally and on location at the Worcester State University campus. This year’s theme is Thriving in the Era of Climate Disruption: Resiliency Strategies for Land and Communities.
“Collabathons” are a year-long series of sustained collaborative convenings with short sprints in service of shared goals. Check out topics like Equity in Practice in Regenerative Agriculture, or the new Ag Data Wallet.
Our partners at PASA are collecting submissions for their upcoming conference:
“Have a unique piece of equipment or management practice that’s made life easier on your farm? Snap some photos and submit your idea to our 2022 Farm Innovations show!”
