The importance of healthy soil
Healthy soil is essential for life, serving as the foundation for food security, climate change mitigation, biodiversity, and water regulation. However, 60-70% of EU soils is deemed unhealthy due to improper management and climate change impacts (EUSO Dashboard).
Initiatives like the EU Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe” focus on research, innovation, and sustainable practices to enhance soil health, increase carbon storage, and improve biodiversity, thereby securing food supplies and protecting ecosystems. The Mission Soil will put in place a network of 100 Living Labs and Lighthouses in rural and urban areas by 2030 to support the transition towards healthy soils by promoting knowledge sharing and place-based experimentation.
Water and agriculture
Agriculture and forestry critically rely on natural resources like nutrients and water. However, these activities can also deplete these resources. Water scarcity negatively affects both rainfed and irrigated crops. Climate change worsens this issue, increasing occurrences of heavy rainfall and floods, which lead to chemical leaching, erosion, and risks to safety.
Research and innovation focus on sustainable water management to balance yield enhancement with reduced costs and environmental impact. EU-supported initiatives in smart farming, digitalisation, agroecology, nature-based solutions, breeding, and wastewater reuse are improving water efficiency and climate change adaptation in agriculture.
Sustainable use of nutrients
Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are essential for crop growth, making fertilisers crucial for food security. Farmers use fertilisers derived from atmospheric nitrogen, minerals, and organic sources to satisfy crop nutrient needs and boost yields.
Research and innovation in sustainable nutrient management focus on balancing yield maintenance and enhancement with the reduction of fertiliser-related losses, emissions, environmental impacts, and costs. Developing efficient nutrient recycling methods from various waste streams further helps to decrease European agriculture's reliance on imported mineral fertilisers.
Research in action
Unlocking soil biodiversity for sustainable agriculture
Soils host a quarter of our planet’s biodiversity and safeguards ecosystems. EU-funded research is increasing knowledge on soil biodiversity and its manifold ecosystem services to unleash its potential for more sustainable soil management.
- SOIL-O-LIVE addresses the link between soil biodiversity and the quality of olive production in the Mediterranean Region.
- BIOservicES and SOB4ES explore the role of soil biodiversity in the delivery of ecosystem services in different land uses.
- SOILGUARD developed an analytical framework for the assessment of soil biodiversity and its functions to support stakeholders in their transition to sustainable management.
Restoring soil health: Tackling agricultural contaminants
Pollutants from plastics, pesticides, heavy metals and other substances are a wide-spread problem in agriculture.
- ARAGORN, EDAPHOS and ISLANDR will develop strategies for the decontamination and reuse of soils.
- MINAGRIS assesses the use of different plastic polymers in agricultural systems and identifies the resulting types and concentrations of MNPs. It also provides validated analytical tools that allow the quantification and identification of these substances.
- PAPILLONS investigated the ecological and socioeconomic sustainability of agricultural plastics in relation to releases and impacts of micro- and nanoplastics in European soils.
Monitoring soil health
Soil monitoring is key for assessing the status of soil health and the impact of different soil management practices and policies on land management.
- BENCHMARKS will develop an Integrated Soil Health Monitoring Framework including a Soil Health Dashboard, based on a validated set of soil health indicators. The framework will be tested using case studies considering various scales, land uses and pedoclimatic conditions.
- AI4SoilHealth will create an open access, European-wide digital infrastructure for assessing and monitoring soil health metrics by land use and/or management based on advanced AI methods. This will include the development of a Soil Digital Twin.
- MARVIC and MRV4SOV will assess the effects of farming practices on soil carbon dynamics and develop a robust system for monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of carbon removal. This is essential for the widespread uptake of carbon farming practices.
Helping business and agriculture ensure soil health
Supporting soil health is key for the sustainability of both agriculture and businesses. Innovative EU-funded projects are now developing practical tools, incentives, and training that help land managers, advisors, and industries adopt soil-friendly practices and create new models for sustainable growth.
- InBestSoil, NOVASOIL and SoilValues will help develop a set of comprehensive methods, market instruments and policy recommendations to support land managers in rural and urban areas with incentives for sustainable land and soil management and generate new income opportunities. In addition, work will support industries in their efforts to develop soil friendly and climate neutral value chains.
- NBSoil focuses on training for specialised soil advisors, based on the development of novel learning material, digital tools and open spaces for information.
Ensuring water resilience
European farmers are challenged by the need to maintain or increase crop yields and quality with reduced or more variable rainfall.
- RAINS and GEORGIA will contribute to the resilience of agriculture to drought with innovative irrigation systems that increase the efficiency in water management
- SHui provides a platform for research on soil-water resources management under scarce conditions, integrating long-term experiments across different environmental conditions and cropping systems from the EU and China.
- The Root2Res project will develop and use tools to define and test innovative genotype ideotypes able to enhance the tolerance to abiotic stress.
- BOOSTER will develop innovative and sustainable strategies to improve drought tolerance in cereals.
Efficient water and nutrient management
It is key to enhance agricultural sustainability through data-driven advice and innovative water and nutrient management solutions.
- PHITO is a platform that offers free data-driven agronomic advice on soil, water and crops tailored for small and medium farmers by simplifying digital farming.
- NUTRIBUDGET helps to optimise nutrient management across different agricultural production systems and regions in the EU.
- Trans4Num and ECONUTRI aim to optimise and validate nature-based solutions for nutrient management in agriculture.
- WATERAGRI enhanced understanding of hydrological processes by advancing traditional drainage and irrigation methods, testing nature-based solutions, and developing affordable technologies to improve water and nutrient retention in agriculture.
Circular approaches for water and nutrients
These projects exemplify circular approaches to enhance water and nutrient management, focusing on efficient retention, reuse, and recovery strategies to promote sustainability in agricultural systems across diverse regions.
- OPTAIN aims to identify efficient and easy-to-implement techniques for the retention and reuse of water and nutrients in small agricultural catchments across Boreal, Continental, and Pannonian regions, and to optimise the spatial allocation and combination of Natural/Small Water Retention Measures from 14 case studies.
- Nutri2Cycle and CIRCULAR AGRONOMIC provided innovative mitigation approaches by closing the carbon and nutrient loops in agro-ecosystems at farm and regional level.
- SuWaNu Europe promoted the effective exchange of expertise among key actors in water reuse in agriculture and summarised existing and emerging knowledge and skills across eight EU regions.
- RUSTICA, SEA2LAND, WalNUT, LEX4BIO and FERTIMANURE aimed to develop new concepts and technological solutions for nutrient recovery, utilizing alternative sources to complete nutrient cycles.
