SOILCRATES

Today, an estimated 60-70% of soils in the EU are (severely) degraded due to unsustainable land use practices and pollution. The SOILCRATES consortium includes 21 partners from across the quadruple helix that fully acknowledge the importance of healthy soils and wish to work together on the tasks defined by the EU Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’. The ambition of SOILCRATES is to create four sustainable and dynamic Living Labs (LLs), to monitor soil health and biodiversity beyond the state-of-the-art, to enhance soil structure and health, and to increase soil literacy in society. During the project lifetime, four LLs based in the Netherlands, France, Ireland, and Spain, will be improving and monitoring the soil structure, soil life, and crop-growing conditions of mineral soils. In these LLs, stakeholders will work with the experimental sites (ESs) land managers to foster innovations and practices suited for the local context. Through co-creation and co-learning, the LLs will increase their knowledge of soils and the underlying soil processes. 

Special attention would be given to exploring crop diversity and vegetative cover, the application of organic soil amendments and irrigation techniques, and combining these practices at the farm level. By using various educational tools, SOILCRATES will make this knowledge available to the wider public and use it further to inform science, practices, and policy briefs to reduce pressures on soils. 

By the end of the project, four regional LLs would be fully sustainable and operational. The initial partnership would be enlarged with 40 sub-grantees – ESs and lighthouses (LHs) testing and demonstrating good practices developed through the project (EUR 1,600,000 budget allocated for FSTP). Collaboration will also be established with other LLs, sister projects, JRC, and EUSO. Proposed solutions are expected to spark further regional innovation, uptake of practices and monitoring solutions, and increase the impact of the project.