Photo: Rudy Bakker (Bejo Zaden)

Cars filled up to the ceiling with tasty lettuce and spinach crops last week as technician Michelle Zwart (UvA) has officially kicked off the fieldwork campaign for MicroHealth phase 1. With the aid of PhD-student Jia Wenyi (UvA), and Rudy Bakker and Liesbeth van der Heijden (Bejo), a total of 40 lettuce and 80 spinach crops were collected from two farms in Warmenhuizen, North Holland. Along with soil samples taken from the same farms, the crop and soil samples will be tested in UvA laboratories to address the research objectives of phase 1.

Our team visited two out of a total eight farms - partnered with Bejo and Enza - spread throughout three provinces in the Netherlands: North-Holland, Gelderland, and Limburg. In each of these farms, they will collect samples from a low-input farm (farms which use organic inputs such as crop residues and animal manure) and from a high-input farm (farms which use purchased off-farm inputs, such as synthetic fertilizers and pesticides). With this setup, we aim to find differences between low-input and high-input farming in terms of the microbiome. The results of these experiments will help to tie the story of the microbiome together with human health. Ultimately, it will answer the main objective of MicroHealth which is to study whether foods produced from low-input farming are healthier than foods produced from high-input farming.

The samples are currently being processed and stored in freezers at the UvA. Once the remaining samples have been collected, they will be tested at UvA laboratories. In the future, our team will visit the same farms to collect samples of cabbage and carrot, in the same fashion as they did for lettuce and spinach.