GROW Observatory is a Citizens’ Observatory that has empowered people and whole communities to take action on soils and climate across Europe. GROW has ground-truthed Sentinel-1 to improve the accuracy of predictions on extreme events, such as flood, drought and wildfire.
Our vision
We are supporting a movement of citizens generating, sharing and using information on growing and the land.Thousands of people have come together to collect and make use of data, gaining a voice on local issues, improving soil, land use, climate change adaptation and our overall sustainability.
Scale
GROW is the first continental-scale Citizens’ Observatory to monitor a key parameter for science, continuously over an extended period, and at an unmatched spatial density. GROW has, for the first time, used crowdsourced ground observations from low-cost sensors to validate soil moisture information from satellites, including the new generation of high-resolution satellites, Sentinel-1.
24 GROW communities in 13 European countries create an unprecedented network of 6,502 ground-based soil sensors and a dataset of 516M rows of soil data.
Artists and Designers
We have embedded design thinking at the heart of GROW, and the arts play an integrative role. Artists have created artworks to help us reflect on the importance of invisible systems to our lives, such as soil ecosystems and remote sensing satellites. Designers have created dynamic visualisations for use in agriculture and climate forecasting using GROW data.
Research
Our evaluation has revealed many insights, GROW has helped thousands of people to learn about and test regenerative food growing techniques. Farmers in the Canary Islands have reduced their use of water for irrigation by 30%. Our communities and data services are continuing after the current funding period is ended.
Awards
Winner of Land and Soil Management Award 2019, acclaimed by Jury, “the best example for future significant sustainability projects aiming at soil health.” Named first in EC’s annual GEO Plenary statement on the major developments in Earth Observation in 2019. Winner of Stephen Fry Award for Excellence in Public Engagement, GROW is ‘Public Engagement Project of the Year 2020.’
Grow in numbers
24 GROW communities and sensor clusters in 13 European countries
20,500 People actively participating in citizen science or data collection
17,400 GROW learners
7.8M People reached
165 Countries reached
6,502 Sensors connected to GROW platform
516M Soil data rows (without counting metadata)
11 Datasets for future exploitation
5 Satellite products validated
10+ Satellite products that can benefit in future
9 Information services for GROW users
30+ Handbooks, tools, resources
12+ New/more sustainable practices adopted by growers within the life of GROW
30% Reduced use of water for irrigation at two farms in the Canary Islands (amplifiers)
12 mth Extension of GROW data services
8 Communities continuing to collect data beyond the funding period
1 Business and operational plan for future development
Contact
You can find us on Twitter @growobservatory.
Or contact us by email: hello@growobservatory.org
Credits
Who are the people behind GROW?
The partner organisations in the GROW Observatory span Europe and share an interest in sustainable food growing, soil, climate, creativity and design, open data, accessible technology and the incredible things that can happen when people come together to make the change.
University of Dundee University of Edinburgh United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) Met Office International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) Technische Universitat Wien FutureEverything HydroLogic Research Starlab Thingful James Hutton Institute Storythings Permaculture Association Cultivate CulturePolis University of Miskolc Parrot Forrest Trust
GROW Community Champions
Tatjana Tupy, Lebensgut, Austria
Magdalena Resch, Lebensgut, Austria
Nicole Geiblinger, Hendlerghof, Austria
Volkmar Geiblinger, Hendleberghof, Austria
Tanja Polegubic, Saltwater, Croatia
James Wardell, Croatia
Charlie Grey, Permaculture Association Britain, England
Cara Wilson, Grower, England
Lucas Hornby, Grower, England
Angeliki Bampala, Calypso, Greece
Nana Zoidou, Calypso, Greece
Kyriaki Chatzisavva, X-Wines, Greece
Giorgos Gkaletsas, Greece
Frangiskos Karelas, Eumelia, Greece
János Vécsei, SZEMmúvesség Bt, Hungary
Joanne Butler, Community Gardens Ireland, Ireland
Dee Sewell, Greenside Up, Ireland
Chiara Corbari, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Karine Paris, CELL, Luxembourg
Tania Walisch, CELL, Luxembourg
Peter Paree, ZLTO, Netherlands
Wico DIeleman, ZLTO, Netherlands
Maja Borkowska, Foundation for Ecological Regeneration, Poland
Noemi Nemes, Foundation for Ecological Regeneration, Poland
Walt Ludwick, Vale da Lama, Portugal
Ana Cátia Proença Vasconcelos, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Gil Pessanha Penha-Lopes, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Wendy McCombes, Forward Coupar, Scotland
Ana ČEBIN, Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Slovenia
Dr. Borut Vrščal, Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Slovenia
Michał Moś, Canary Islands, Spain
Alice Grey, Grower, Wales
European Citizens
The GROW community includes thousands of people from across Europe and beyond who have taken part in GROW.
By the Code of Soil (2018)
By Kasia Molga, Scanner and GROW Observatory
Produced by FutureEverything, as a part of VERTIGO and GROW Observatory.
GROW Open Data Challenge as part of Data Pitch (2018-19)
Agroknow Pilot Agri-food Service
Data Pitch is funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
VERTIGO Artist Residency (2018-19)
GROW Observatory X Kasia Molga in collaboration with Scanner
Additional video Footage: Année Zéro – Benoit Martin, Marc Parazon
VERTIGO is funded under the H2020 European STARTS initiative, innovation at the nexus of Science, Technology, and the ARTS.
Dynamic Soil Moisture Map (2019)
By GROW Observatory
Data visualisation: Moritz Stefaner
Algorithms: University of Miskolc and IIASA
Data provided by: GROW Community