Duchy College in Cornwall provide tools for farmers and growers to help them use resources more efficiently. As part of this they have developed a mobile app for farmers to use which helps them to value the nutrients found in the manures and slurries that they produce on-farm and use them more efficiently (thus reducing their fertiliser bills).
While they were publicising the app, they were approached by a few gardening organisations that thought that a version for allotment holders would be useful in terms of helping them to understand about nutrient management planning, soil management, the fertiliser value of compost and other manures that are added to plots and how to make the best use of them. They are now looking into developing a prototype (using research funding) and are very keen to work with on-the -ground growers to make sure that there is a need from the allotment gardening community, where the knowledge gap is and that they provide the information in the right way / format to allow people to make informed decisions.
They are looking for people or groups that might give feedback on what they currently do and potentially be involved in trialling out an early version of the app (once we are at that stage). Contact Becky Willson if you are interested
They have also developed a short survey for gardeners to find out how they use composts and manures at home, what the most common practices are and where more information might be useful. The link is here https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/compostuse
