Farm Net Zero 

Plant Health and Ecology

On Thursday the 27^th of March 2025, there was a special extended Farm Net Zero citizen workshop attended by 18 citizens enthusiastic to learn about how soil micro-organisms impact plant health and resistance to pests and diseases. In a collaboration between Westcountry Rivers Trust, Community Roots and Symbiotic Soil Lab, the workshop took place in the luxury of Community Roots brand new education centre at Porthtowan. It started with a fascinating presentation detailing the relationship between plant health and soil health, and how soil microbiota influences the availability of plant nutrient uptake. This was followed by a microscope session showing the amoeba and nematodes present in the Community Roots own compost.

After a brief lunch, the opportunity for getting to know new people, and share growing experiences, we headed outside to the Community Roots bath tub wormery where Matty and Jake talked through how to build and maintain a wormery, the benefits of worm compost and how to make and apply ‘tea’ loaded with micro-organisms which can be used to boost plant growth.

The feedback was excellent. Matty and Jake definitely left us all inspired to get composting, to use soil health to eliminate the use of chemical pesticides and to nurture natural predator prey relations to produce both biodiverse and productive gardens.

Figure 1: Microscopic nematode worm found in a compost sample.

SRG School Microbiometer

Following on from the visit by Westcountry Rivers Trust and Jake from Symbiotic Soil Lab to Sir Robert Gefferys School in Landrake last November, Westcountry Rivers Trust returned to deliver a MicroBiometer soil testing starter kit to the school. The Microbiometer kit will provide a follow on from the knowledge gained at the soil micro-organisms workshop, enabling the young environmental enthusiasts to monitor microbial biomass in the schools’ soil and composters.

Ellis and Seren received the kit alongside their teacher, Becky Cunningham. They thoroughly inspected the kit and had an initial read of the directions. They plan to test the soil on the school farm and in the composters on a monthly basis, keeping a record of the results.

Becky Cunningham, science and eco school lead, said “I am in a position to ensure this resource is well used with the curriculum and it will be a real bonus to see how technology can be used to monitor the quality of our soil. It will enable us to act accordingly to improve and maintain our soil”.

Children in KS2 study different soil types, composting, natural fertilizers and crop rotation. 33 children learned about the microorganisms in soil, why they are so important to keep it healthy and how to look after the soil, from Symbiotic Soil Lab in November. The MicroBiometer provides an extension to this learning, providing this group, their fellow students and future years to continue nurturing their enthusiasm for soil and the environment.

PHOTO 1: SRG School Microbiometer (2)

Becky Cunningham, head of science and eco school with Ellis and Seren to receiving the Microbiometer Soil Testing Starter Kit gifted by the FNZ project.

PHOTO 2: SRG School Microbiometer (4)

Seren, Ellis and MS Cunningham familiarise themselves with the new Microbiometer and planning its use.

In September 2023, Westcountry Rivers Trust held a Beneficial Bugs ID session at Community Roots market garden, near Porthtowan.

Zoe leads the soil health workshop at Loveland

On-site, there are many wild boundaries and herbaceous borders running across the beds to encourage pollination and provide year-round habitat for beneficial predators.

Project officer Zoe Smith said: “Even this late in the year, we turned up plenty of interesting specimens from different areas of the garden with our pooters.

“We also looked at some companion planting within the polytunnels and participants made a bee hotel log to take home to support bees in their own gardens.”

A Soil Health Indicators session at Loveland, Penryn, in October 2023 also took place.  Several enthusiastic people brought soil samples from home to analyse, as well as digging soil pits in the garden itself and comparing compacted areas on the track with less intensively used grassland areas.

We’re still looking for new locations to run climate friendly gardening workshops.

If you have an allotment, community garden or smallholding within east or central Cornwall you are proud of, and are willing to share your story, please get in touch with Zoe via zoe@wrt.org.uk.

We delivered four workshops last autumn for attendees to discover more about soil health, no dig, biodiverse lawns, composting and green manures.

These were a great success, and our Natural Capital Advisor Zoë Smith said: “People enjoyed sharing tips and tricks with the professional growers and each other, with everyone feeling they had learned something new.

“Several told us they are taking this back to their allotment sites too to spread the word about the benefits of knowing your soil and how to manage your plot to minimise environmental impacts.”

They have been a great way to connect farmers with communities and to share their knowledge of large-scale greenhouse gas reduction techniques with small scale growers.

In the past four months, soil sampling with our four monitor farms has been carried out and they are in the final process of completing their carbon calculator audits.

All the farmers are interested in seeing where their farms can improve but also what they are doing well in terms of carbon capture/ reducing emissions. 

This year our monitor farms are expecting to use between 30% -50% less fertiliser due to the astronomical price increases. 

This will reduce carbon emission across all farms significantly, but our monitor farms are still striving to reduce their carbon footprint further. To do so, they are attending information events and incorporating practices into their businesses such as better use of farmyard manure and slurry, increasing sward diversity, cover cropping, and companion cropping. 

Interest from farmers to continue to engage with us through the project is increasing. With the citizen science part of FNZ we are engaging with the broader community, especially gardeners and allotment holders.

We aim to inspire them to make changes in their horticultural habits towards net zero and encourage practices to improve soil health.  Several local groups are very engaged. 

There is also interest from outside the area that FNZ covers which is encouraging, showing that the wider public is interested in the FNZ project and how to reduce their carbon footprint.  Keep a look out for our upcoming small farm and citizen science events.