The Salt Doctors

Dear colleagues, We are excited to invite you to the upcoming webinar “Optimization of crop irrigation under the risk of salinization using agrohydrological tools.” This event was designed to enhance your skills and building the capacities in optimizing crop irrigation and water management, particularly in the face of salinization challenges, utilizing the HYDRUS-1D computer model. The workshop will consist of three sessions (three days) focusing on: Introduction to webinar series on modelling (Jorge Batlle-Sales) Learn how models simulate reactive transport in soils, including the interactions between the atmosphere, plants, and groundwater Session 1: Understanding reactive transport models in soils (Meisam Rezaei) Description of the Hydrus-1D model and its possibilities. An overview on the menu for data entry and data output. Preparing a basic study case. Session 2: Practical application and data sharing (Meisam Rezaei) Various examples of irrigation optimization in soils under risk of salinization. Hands-on learning with HYDRUS-1D with soil, water, crop, and meteorological data Session 3: Presentation of trainee study cases (Meisam Rezaei/Jorge Batlle-Sales) Interactive session where participants will present their own study cases simulated using HYDRUS-1D. The webinar series is the sixth in a series of webinars organized by the International Network of Salt-Affected Soils (INSAS) of the Global Soil Partnership, an initiative which is aimed at raising awareness on sustainable management of salt-affected soils for food security, agricultural sustainability, environmental protection, and climate change mitigation. The webinar series will engage all those interested in soil hydrological modelling and optimizing crop irrigation under challenging soil conditions including agricultural engineers, agronomists, researchers, and students. The webinar will take place online on Tuesdays 22 October (Theory), 29 October (Practice), 12 November (Interactive practical session) at 16:00-17:30 (Central European Summer Time / Central European Time). Trainers: Meisam Rezaei, INSAS Vice-Chair, Soil & Water Research Institute, Iran Jorge Batlle-Sales, INSAS Chair, Spain Registration link: https://lnkd.in/gwdTpFRG We look forward to seeing you online.

Our "Mekong Salt Lab" consortium is looking forward to sharing its first results on 24 and 25 October in Tra Vinh, Vietnam. Over the past 14 months, we worked with unique team of Vietnamese and Dutch #water and #agriculture experts to design and implement a range of practical, small-scale solutions that support farmers to adapt to salinity. Connecting these water and agriculture solutions to work together as one integrated system, we secure access to sufficient fresh water for a farmer every day of the year, increasing crop yields in the dry season, minimising groundwater use and reducing pollution. During our event, we will come together with more than 30 local and international stakeholders from government, private sector, ngo’s, funders and investors to explore how we can further scale and replicate this promising approach to make it affordable and sustainable for all farmers in the Mekong Delta. Interested? Pls email/message me! Another highlight of the event will be the participation of several teams of Vietnamese students who have been working over the past weeks to develop their own personal ideas and solutions to address salinity and water scarcity in their region. Many thanks to our passionate trainers/mentors for sharing their experience and supporting our next generation water and agriculture professionals! Salt Lab Forum registration: https://lnkd.in/eZ9XEq4g The Mekong Salt Lab consortium consists of: The Water Agency, Tra Vinh University, Kim Delta Vietnam, The Salt Doctors, Saxion International Water Technology, SkillEd, HZ University of Applied Sciences and Acacia Water. The project is jointly funded by the consortium members and Partners for Water. Mentors of the "Salt Lab Youth Challenge": Van Anh Pham, Thuy Nguyen, Tuyen (Kelly) Vo, Nguyen Hoang Lam, Ly Trung Nguyen and Nguyen Cong Thuc #Vietnam #Mekong #water #food #salinity #youth

One of the activities of The Salt Doctors is designing and developing open-field #hydroponics that can use saline water as a water source. Focussing on smallholder farmers, this system has to be easy to operate, robust and cheap. That can be a challenging combination! One of the good things of using #saline water is that it already contains a lot of minerals, which reduces the costs of the fertilizers. The system on the pictures runs completely on solar power, so it can operate off-grid as well. The system serves as a water storage as well, ensuring water availability in the dry season. This allows off- season production, ensuring high market prices. The crops we are currently validating are pak choi, kale, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach beet ( Swiss chard) and even tomato, all grown at a salinity level of 8 dS/m. Currently we are also validation this system in #Egypt and #Vietnam, with the support of the Dutch #PartnersforWater program. Thanks to our project partners Delphy International, Plug'n'Grow in Egypt and the #MekongSaltLab consortium in Vietnam!

💧 Join us at the Salt Lab Forum 2024! We’re excited to bring together local and international experts, innovators, and stakeholders to explore solutions for salinity mitigation and adaptation for a more resilient Mekong Delta. 📅 Date: October 24-25, 2024 📍 Location: Tra Vinh Province, Vietnam This forum will feature the adaptation solutions piloted by the Salt Lab project and explore opportunities to scale them in the next phase. Join us to share your insights and help shape the future of sustainable agriculture and climate resilience. 🔗 Register now: https://lnkd.in/gwDjT-Cw The Salt Lab project is supported by Partners for Water and The Kingdom of the Netherlands in Vietnam. It is implemented by Tra Vinh University, Kim Delta Vietnam, SkillEd, The Salt Doctors, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, HZ University of Applied Sciences, Acacia Water, and The Water Agency. #SaltLabForum #ClimateAction #SalinityAdaptation #MekongDelta #Sustainability #WaterManagement

Do you aspire to contribute to sustainable agriculture on a global scale?#ICBAAgriculture is seeking a Senior Project Officer to lead and support projects that drive sustainable development and improve livelihoods in marginal regions. If you’re a skilled project manager with over 5 years of experience and a passion for making a difference, this could be your next big role!   💼 Title: Senior Project Officer 📍 Location: Iraq ⏳ Application deadline: 14 October 2024 ➡️ Apply here: https://bit.ly/3XG6NBH #ICBAAgriculture #GlobalDevelopment #ProjectManagement #SustainableAgriculture #CareerAtICBA

🌱 Unlocking the Potential of Biosaline Agriculture 🌍 At Sand to Green, we're continuously pushing the boundaries of sustainable farming, even in the harshest environments. One of our recent successes in agriculture biosaline is a project in partnership with OSMOSUN® and The Salt Doctors, where we’ve been using brine with a salinity of 15g/L from our desalination machines to irrigate carefully selected halophyte species. 📸 The results after just 4 months are astounding! The photo below shows the remarkable biomass growth we’ve achieved, thanks to: 🔹 Soil preparation and amendement 🔹 Selection of the best salt-tolerant plants 🔹 A custom agroforestry model designed to maximize biomass This approach not only supports healthy plant growth but also helps in salt management. The biomass we produce stores the salt and is then harvested for uses such as animal fodder, contributing to sustainability and resource efficiency in arid regions, while extracting salt from the system. Biosaline agriculture offers immense potential for food security and ecosystem regeneration in saline-affected landscapes. We're excited to be at the forefront of these innovations! #biosalineagriculture #brinemanagement #agriculture #agroforestry #desalination

For those who are interested, you can join the Salt Lab Forum in Vietnam at the end of October. We as The Salt Doctors will present our work on open-field hydroponics, as part of the integrated approach that we are developing with all our partners. Please have a look at the link for more details! https://lnkd.in/exERPvaM

🌟 Save the Date: Mekong Salt Lab Forum! 🌟   The Forum will share the interim results of the Mekong Salt Lab project and discuss the next steps with a diverse group of local and international partners.   📅 Date: 24 – 25 October, 2024 (after the Green Economy Forum & Exhibition) 📍 Venue: Tra Vinh, Vietnam Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn about scaling and replicating our innovative solutions. Stay tuned for more updates! #Dutch #Vietnam #Netherlands #MekongDelta #Forum #Project The Kingdom of the Netherlands in Vietnam Netherlands Agricultural Network Tra Vinh University Kim Delta Vietnam The Salt Doctors Saxion University of Applied Sciences HZ University of Applied Sciences Acacia Water Gregor van Essen The Water Agency Partners for Water Ingrid Korving Huong Lan Nguyen Phuong Dung Le Hien Pham

Just finished a good visit to #Senegal. This week was all about installing our three main demonstration locations in Kayar, for our "Onion Farming for the Future" project. Setting up solar powered drip irrigation, a design for proper crop rotation, tailor-made (organic) fertilizer strategies, green-manure crops, mulching, robust crop varieties and specific #salinity management are all part of these demo's. With this, we will further train our local partners and invite different stakeholders in order to ensure scaling up these solutions. There are always challenges when setting up demo's like this, but we were able to develop the solutions day by day! Thanks to our project partners Delphy International, APMK and ANCAR for the collaboration this week, and to our other project partners Marco Rensma, Ecole nationale supérieure d'agriculture-ENSA-Thiès Sénégal , HZPC , Enza Zaden, Hanse Staalbouw B.V. And great to get the (financial) support of Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO), Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Senegal, Ben Kubbinga, Hanneke van Hoof

If you are interested in doing research in Halophyte, check this opportunity at our Center