Small-scale farmers’ perceptions of plant-soil interactions inform sustainable ecosystem management in the Venice Lagoon, Italy

Purpose Our study investigated soil quality assessment methods, indicators, and soil management practices adopted by farmers on Sant’Erasmo and Vignole, two small islands in the Venice Lagoon, Italy. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nineteen farmers (representing 80% of each island farming community), using purposive and snowball sampling. We assessed the convergence of local ecological knowledge (LEK) on wild plants used as soil indicators and plants used to improve soil quality, with established botanical-agronomic literature, specifically Fioravanti (2020), a comprehensive and up-to-date study of Italian spontaneous flora. Results Our findings revealed six methods of soil quality evaluation, where farmers use their senses, above all sight. The wild flora growing in the fields is indeed used as indicator of specific edaphic characteristics, notably 24 wild plant taxa (in addition to two unidentified folk taxa), belonging to 15 families. We also identified the use of 38 plant taxa belonging to 13 families to improve soil quality. Both plant categories showed limited convergence with our comparative source. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that farmers evaluate soil quality through sensory-based methods. Specific indicator plants revealing edaphic characteristics were reported, as well as plants mentioned for improving soil quality. This low-external-input agriculture, showing limited convergence with our comparative source, may suggest the uniqueness of the Venice Lagoon ecosystem and its LEK. The integration of such local expertise within universal scientific frameworks may provide the local grounding that institutional policies often lack.