Soil Your Undies is the provocative title for the Soil Conservation Council of Canada’s latest media campaign. The goal is to assess soil health in a simple and fun way. The council is encouraging people to bury underwear that is 100% cotton (and brand new) in the top 6 inches of the soil. Keep a bit of the waistband showing and flag it.
Two months later, dig up your undies. If the cotton is almost all gone, that’s a good sign—your soil life is healthy and doing its job of decomposing organic matter. Underwear that is still intact after two months (at moderate soil temperatures) indicates that the soil life is lacking in abundance and/or diversity.
The project is based on a science fair project. Michael Jones, a grade seven student and 4-H Canada Science Fair Winner, compared the rate of underwear degradation in fields with various soil types and crop rotations. Soil Conservation Council seized on the idea and launched the national campaign. The results of underwear planted during National Soil Conservation Week, April 16- April 22, will be shared via social media (#SoilYourUndies) and at the Summit on Canadian Soil Health 2017, August 22-23, 2017 in Guelph, Ontario. Stanfields, not a name normally associated with soil science, is a supporter of the campaign and has donated underwear to the cause.
- Janet Wallace