In citizen science, citizens and researchers join forces to make a societal positive impact. Part of the University of Twente’s mission is to strengthen society by providing sustainable solutions to current problems. Last year, the Citizen Science Hub Twente made a call for citizens and researchers to submit their research ideas for the start of a new programme “Civic and Citizen Science”. This programme aims to strengthen citizen participation in scientific research. Five projects were selected and received a grant to work on the project for the next two years. Citizen Science Hub Twente sat down with the researchers and citizens of each project to give an update on how it is proceeding.
This project touches on discovering how data can help farms to adapt to challenges posed by climate change, such as unpredictable weather and longer growing seasons. We sat down with Iris and Florian from Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation to talk about their project in collaboaration with the ‘Herenboerderij Usseler Es’.
Farms are an enormous part of the economy, citizens, and the planet. How do farms go about issues such as climate change or other difficult circumstances, such as sandy soils or limited water availability? It’s a good thing that ‘herenboerderij’s exist’. This is a Dutch term and concept for community farms. These are cooperative farms where members collectively own and manage the farm. The focus is on sustainable, nature-driven agriculture, with production tailored to meet the members' needs rather than for commercial sale. Members contribute financially and, in some cases, also participate in the farm's operations. It's a model centered on community, sustainability, and learning.
Farms in the certain regions of the Netherlands have to deal with issues such as sandy soils with a small altitude difference. This comes with major challenges in terms of water availability. A great percentage of land on the farms in the area are dry and depend on rainwater. You might think “But doesn’t it rain a lot in the Netherlands?” Well yes, but due to climate change, there is less rainfall, which results in aridification and water shortages, a.k.a. not good for the crops to grow.
After having some conversations with farmers, Iris and Florian decided to use their expertise and try to tackle these issues. Both Iris and Florian are assistant professors at the University of Twente’s Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation. Florian explained how after having many conversations and interviews with farmers, he realised ‘the science was missing’, and that we need to listen to people more. He thinks this is exactly why one of these projects is so important, because we can actually be closer to the recipients of our information and start an exchange with them.
Iris and Florian are working on a ‘foundation’ for farming. By using different measurement tools, they plan to ‘get to know’ the land, how it responds to things such as rainfall or droughts.
They established a weather station on the farm with soil moisture sensors at different depths to monitor how wet the soil is at different depths. It measures what happens with the soil when there is more precipitation, how long it takes to dry out in case of a long drought. They also make use of drones to map out the area, and are working on new devices that can monitor the crops and the drought stress of vegitation.
After having data on the crops on the farm, they needed to figure out a way to communicate this with people. Earlier this year, the researchers met with the farmers for a workshop on what to do with the data. The farmers now use a dashboard that displays data in real time to decide when to turn on the water pumps after a drought.
By working together, Iris and Florian hope to improve local food production while offering valuable insights for farms worldwide. In order to tackle these issues, the team works on the project with a geo-techno-social approach. Science, technology and people are working together to improve the farms of the future.
