Preserving and restoring European soil health requires a monitoring framework that translates directly into better farming and policy decisions. Existing frameworks weakly link soil indicators to the impact of farming practices or their combinations. SoilPATH will develop a harmonised EU model that assesses how single and combined management practices affect soil health and farm performance, and will integrate this model into practical tools and training for farmers, advisors and policymakers.

SoilPATH will (i) collect and consolidate knowledge through systematic reviews, meta-analyses, national inventories, long-term field trials and multi-actor input to identify key indicators and evaluation rules; (ii) develop and refine a harmonised EU model based on the Open Soil Index, integrating multi-performance indicators and linking evidence to single and combined farming practices; and (iii) create the SOILpathways platform, embedding the model into practical decision-support tools, toolboxes and training modules for farmers, advisors and policymakers. These efforts will be supported by a multi-actor approach spanning 12 national networks across Europe’s main pedoclimatic zones, within a consortium of 17 partners across 11 countries, to co-create indicators and targets and iteratively refine the model with stakeholder feedback. In addition, implementation of AI is planned as a supportive layer, enhancing the model by forecasting soil health outcomes, aligning outputs with CAP indicators, and structuring tacit knowledge into the open knowledge base.

SoilPATH directly supports the Soil Mission by enabling coherent soil health assessment and accelerating uptake of regionally tailored practices, while strengthening EU policy frameworks (CAP Strategic Plans, Soil Monitoring Law, Green Deal) with scalable maps, opportunity analyses and decision rules.