TUdi

TUdi is conceived as a transformative project, integrating 15 academic and SME partners, to develop, upscale and disseminate soil restoring strategies in three major agricultural systems (cereal based rotations, tree crops and grasslands), different farm typologies and environmental conditions in Europe, China and New Zealand. Aimed to lead the way in improving soil health across EU, China and New Zealand, it rests on two pillars: 1) a network of 42 cooperating stakeholder organisations for defining, implementing and upscaling soil restoring strategies in multiple farms; b) a network of 66 long-term experiments and monitored farms in the participating countries. From them, TUdi will identify soil degradation situations, proven strategies for restoring soil health, and barriers and possibilities for its adoption at farm level, including gender dimensions. This bottom-up approach will develop a set of digital tools, compatible with platforms for optimizing CAP implementation in Europe, to predict the impact of these strategies on nutrient and water balance, yield, cost-benefit and farm operations. They will guide farmers in implementing strategies to restore soil health by overcoming barriers for adoption, with rigorous cost-benefit analyses central to farmer appraisal. Solutions will be scaled up over a large number of farms through partners engaged in the cooperators network, including training of stakeholders, developing technical materials and elaborating policy briefs. It will be complemented by communicating project challenges and results to society, raising awareness of the relevance of healthy soils for sustainable development. Providing a blueprint for development and dissemination of soil restoring strategies at large scale, it will contribute to key initiatives like the EU and China Research Agenda for Agriculture and EU Mission on Soil Heath and Food. Training farmers, staff and early career scientists in sustainable soil use will result in lasting legacy.