SoilBlitz

Project lead: Sophia Götzinger
AGES - Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety
Address: Spargelfeldstraße 191, 1220 Wien
Telephone: +43(0)50555-34134
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Food, Plants, Land use, Soil
Activity: measuring, photography, counting, identifying, locating, observing
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://www.ages.at/soilblitz

A snapshot of soil health

With the SoilBlitz, Citizen Scientists independently carried out tests to determine local soil health, collect important data and become aware of the importance of healthy soils.

What are the aims of the project?

In a so-called ‘SoilBlitz’, five uncomplicated and fast tests were carried out to determine soil indicators such as soil texture and colour, water infiltration rate, earthworm occurrence and vegetation cover. The measurement results for these indicators were documented via an app on the ‘Soil Health Watch’ platform and then analysed. The collected data will be used in the EU project BENCHMARKS to gain an insight into the soil health of different countries and to test and optimise time- and cost-efficient methods. Based on the results, a final report was prepared and sent to the participants. The report is available at https://www.ages.at/soilblitz.

How could you participate in research?

As part of the Citizen Science Award 2025, school classes (students from 10 years onwards) ) had the opportunity to take part in an exciting project to measure five soil health indicators. The measurements, which take between 40 and 60 minutes, can easily be carried out in a half-day school day. The results were entered in the online test protocol via an app in the ‘Soil Health Watch’ platform. The three school classes with the most entries in the ‘Soil Health Watch’ platform were rewarded with prizes: €1000 for 1st place (3B BG / BRG Gmünd), €750 for 2nd place (1 BPMR HBLA Pitzelstätten) and €500 for 3rd place (3C BG / BRG Gmünd).