Teagasc and VistaMilk Research Ireland Centre today, December 5th celebrated the successful conclusion of their citizen science initiative, GroundTruth. The project – co-funded by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and the Department of Education and Youth under the Research Ireland Discover Programme – was designed to raise public awareness of soil health and to promote simple, DIY soil‑testing methods.
The final event, held on World Soil Day, brought participants and the project team together at the Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise, County Laois, for an in‑person closing event. World Soil Day, an international initiative, is held each year on December 5 and highlights the importance of healthy soils while promoting the sustainable management of soil resources.
Participants in the GroundTruth project included schools, farmers, farmer discussion groups, community gardens and other interested citizens. They carried out four simple assessments of their soil health and came from 24 counties, reaching communities as far west as Clare Island. The initiative also attracted cross‑border interest from organisations keen to use the project’s resources in similar programmes. The strong response demonstrates a growing national appetite for accessible, evidence‑based information on soil management.
Reflecting on the project’s achievements, Dr Fiona Brennan, Project Lead, said:
The level of engagement from the public through this project far exceeded our expectations. It shows there is real interest among farmers and citizens to understand soil health more. We were delighted to see participants learn new skills, enhance their knowledge, and have fun along the way.
As well as the citizen science element, GroundTruth organised Soil Health Week in September – a week-long festival of activities across the country offering farmers, students and the wider public the latest insights, innovations, and practical guidance on soil health. While GroundTruth officially concludes on 31 December, its legacy will continue through a suite of freely available materials and resources, including the newly launched Farming for Soil Health handbook, unveiled at today’s event, which will support ongoing learning and practical action in soil stewardship.
Also at the event, the winners of the ‘Soil in Focus” photography competition, funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, were announced. The competition, which aimed to raise awareness of the importance of soils, invited farmers, students, and the general public to capture the complexity and life of soil in action. The overall winner of the competition was Caroline Costigan, from Newcastle, County Wicklow, who was presented with a voucher for €250. The runners-up were Joanne O’Connor from Castlegregory, County Kerry and Claire Dennehy from Galway City.
Speaking at the event, Mary Cleary, Assistant Agricultural Inspector in the Nature and Land Use Division of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, said:
Soils are hugely important, delivering essential ecosystem services and forming the very foundation of our food. Healthy soil is a vital resource that we must understand, value and protect and education plays a key role in ensuring we can do exactly that.
For more information on the GroundTruth project or to access its resources, please visit Teagasc: https://teagasc.ie/environment/soil/soil-health/ground-truth/groundtruth-resources/ and VistaMilk: https://www.vistamilk.ie/ online.
Find the newly launched Farming for Soil Health booklet here: https://teagasc.ie/wp-content/uploads/uploads/media/website/publications/2025/Farming-for-Soil-Health-Web.pdf
Photo Caption: Pictured at the closing event for the GroundTruth Citizen Science Project on World Soils Day were from left to right Ada Freaney, Airfield Estate; Mary Cleary, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Emily Kelly, Research Ireland; Cathal Somers, Teagasc; Fiona Brennan, Teagasc; Tom Barry, Signpost Programme Tillage Farmer and Elena Hayes, VistaMilk.