Soil health on Swiss arable farms: data covering soil management practices, farm characteristics and decision drivers

Summary

Soil health is the cornerstone of sustainable agriculture, directly influencing agricultural production, climate resilience and Agri-ecosystem service provision, but studies have shown that agricultural soils degrade over time due to inadequate soil management practices. Remediation of soil management is hampered by an insufficient understanding of the drivers of soil management behaviour. To understand the status quo and develop insights for improving and maintaining soil health, we surveyed 2,728 Swiss arable farms in 2024. The survey aimed to capture the soil management practices use alongside the decision-making surrounding their implementation in the 2022/2023 production season. The dataset comprises four core components: (1) farm and farmer characteristics, including gender, age, management experience, labour availability, farm size and participation in agricultural environmental schemes (AES); (2) detailed records of twelve arable soil management practices, including uptake extent, number of years used, perceived knowledge and peer adoption; (3) farmers' priorities for soil health and their assessment of key agricultural challenges; and (4) production data for a subset of farms cultivating milling wheat, including wheat area, wheat yield and input application rates. We enriched the survey data with secondary plot level census data covering weather, soil type and crop rotation. This combined dataset provides a comprehensive resource that enables the analysis of current farming practices, knowledge gaps and challenges to maintain and improve the health of arable soils.