NOVASOIL

There is no life without soil. If soils are healthy and sustainably managed, they provide food, clean water, habitats for biodiversity and other important services while contributing to climate resilience. In this context, the EU-funded NOVASOIL project will highlight the benefits of investing in soil for society and the environment. It will propose a toolbox of good practices, models and business cases drawn from different parts of Europe and beyond. The overall aim is to promote sustainable soil management under different land uses and climatic conditions while promoting soil health. The NOVASOIL toolbox will be developed with the guidance of a multidisciplinary team of experts with experience in developing soil health business models based on sustainable crop and soil management.

The general objective of NOVASOIL project is highlight the benefits for the society and the environment from the investment in soil health. The main expected outcome of the project is a toolbox for the analysis of suitability of different business cases that promote soil health. This toolbox will be based on a set of good examples from Europe and other countries and the needs and demands from the society. The toolbox will include a categorisation of the models and business cases taking into account: a) sustainable soil management under different land uses and climatic conditions; b) products based on practices promoting soil health; c) consumption and certification practices conductive: d) the reuse of land and e) sustainable soil management in the context of the EU Taxonomy Regulation.

For that, NOVASOIL is composed by a multidisciplinary team with a large experience on European and national projects focus on soil health and business models. As well as, NOVASOIL will built a Community of Practice around project objectives in order to co-develop soil health business models and the tool-box for incentives taking into account their needs and demands.

NOVASOIL is organised in 5 WPs plus coordination following the expected objectives and impacts of the call. The first step is to develop a conceptual framework of soil health and business. This framework will nurture other WPs in order to develop in the same way all the expected objectives. The soil health business models will analyse current successful experiences in Europe and outside Europe in order to categorise them taking into account their variability. In addition, NOVASOIL includes 13 Case Studies with business models that promote soil quality and products based on sustainable crop and soil management.

On the other hand, an analysis of current policies related will be carried out in order to provide suggestions and improvement that facilitate the implementation of these soil health business.