Bruce Ball

Soil scientist (#VESS pioneer) and author into farming, global change, art and piano. Also a train enthusiast (nobody's perfect).

[Artemi Cerdà @ArtemioCerda]

Nature-based solutions…… a relevant paper to guide your research

https://t.co/69PxVuFHaj

[James Rebanks @herdyshepherd1]

Listened to some amazing scientists yesterday explaining the growing evidence that how we farm, and our soil biome health, is passing through food to make us sick and also the reverse, how good food from good soil can make us well again, including mental health

[Richard Smith @rsmithsoil]

Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure:
- gently tease apart along lines of natural weakness to look for soil aggregate shape and size at different depths
- gently crush aggregates between finger and thumb to assess friability and density
#WorldSoilDay2024 #interpretsoil #vess

[Dr Susan Chomba @suechomba]

“Green revolution bypassed Africa on matters soil health. The answer now is not going back to green revolution thinking, it lies in one health approach to health of soils, plants, animals, people & the planet” Dr Lal. Soil scientist and winner of world food prize! #COP29Baku

[Bruce Ball @BruceCBall]

@rsmithsoil Some good soil husbandry there

[Dr Anna Krzywoszynska @Anna_K_speaking]

Use of #AI in #soilhealth #governance & #management is rising. This will de-value farmers' and other land workers' bottom-up/practical knowledge: the real basis of #sustainability. Technology must serve places and their people! Interview by @AI4SoilHealth @arcticants #missionsoil

[Soil Science Society of America Journal @sssajournal]

SSSAJ featured article📢

Visual evaluation of soil structure is a reliable method to detect changes in the soil quality of Colombian Amazon pasturelands https://t.co/j9cVHqX4T5

Study by Mora-Motta & colleagues @uniamazonia @duber_alejandro @MariaPauuC

[Matt England @Matt3ngland]

Ecomat on demo from @tnstractors today- burying trash pretty well at 5”. Looks good and could help us move less soil in our #organicfarming system. @KvernelandGroup

[Dylan Jones @Dylancastellior]

Less Chemical Nitrogen, less Chemical weed control, less Diesel usage, 60% more organic matter/manure can be incorporated for soil health, soil aeration for root growth, greater roots can deposit carbon sequestration at deeper layers. So why is ploughing frowned upon again?!! 🤔

[Cranfield Agrifood @CranfieldAgrifo]

Co-designed by UK industry, the Soil Scientist Apprenticeship will equip and upskill organisations with the knowledge, understanding, tools, practices, and resources to achieve optimal soil management.

Find out more: https://t.co/6DOmsS07g3

#SoilScience #Apprenticeship

[Richard Smith @rsmithsoil]

My phone decided to create this video clip with music.
It has worked out visual soil assessment methodology …😏

[Robynne Anderson @Robynne_A]

My pleasure to co-facilitate a panel on #SoilHealth with the @WorldFoodPrize Laureate Dr. Rattan Lal who opened by saying "Africa is fully capable of feeding itself".

@ca4sh_global will help make a bread basket with good soil health.

#AFSH24

[Bruce Ball @BruceCBall]

@_StevenABrown @EastCoastBuses Sure, why not. What’s the best way to go about that?

[Bruce Ball @BruceCBall]

Many thanks to Lance, driver of service 140 from Musselburgh to Roslin for keeping my wedding ring after I lost it on the bus today and to the lady who picked it up @EastCoastBuses

[East Coast Buses @EastCoastBuses]

@BruceCBall We're really pleased to hear our colleagues were able to assist in reuniting you with your wedding ring, Bruce!

[Bruce Ball @BruceCBall]

Good to see what looked like a #VESS chart https://t.co/t8N0m5VBVd in a consultant’s hand on tonight’s @BBCCountryfile program. After this winter assessing soil structure visually and acting on what is seen is more vital than ever @Soil_Science @SRUC @ORFC

[Bruce Ball @BruceCBall]

Many thanks to @curvedflatlands for putting material on Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure #vess and artwork from https://t.co/kG2k15WKP9 on the LivingField site https://t.co/xwydet1tSO @JamesHuttonInst @ORFC @SRUC

[Bruce Ball @BruceCBall]

A great resource for farmers and sustainable land use is the Living Field: sustainable croplands https://t.co/PnArNv5SsG @LField2020 Hosted by @JamesHuttonInst and @curvedflatlands (Dr Geoff Squire), it includes resources on climate change, local food and nice artwork

[Andrei Girz @AndreiGirz]

☝🏼More technology won’t necessarily prevent soil erosion.

Instead, we need to understand the farmers!

How on earth we can do that? Since everyone is rushing to give advice instead of listening to the farmer.

Excerpt from the Managing soil quality book by P. Schjonning et al.

[Bruce Ball @BruceCBall]

Thought provoking ideas on the future importance of Small Farms have recently been added to Colin Tudge’ blog https://t.co/gJvuab1UQp @ORFC @SRUC