Project hub

The Mission Soil project hub provides information on projects funded under the Mission and other relevant initiatives. Through the project hub, it will be possible to gain oversight of the emerging Mission project portfolio and follow the progress and outcomes of funded projects and initiatives more easily. The hub provides information on the goals, activities, and results, factual or expected, of the projects and initiatives, outlining the relevance to Mission objectives. 

The repository enables searches by Mission objectives (specific and operational), funding programme, time and country and allows free data downloading.

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AGRI-DRY

Dryland agriculture and Land use: past, present and future resilience

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €1,915,401.60

In an era where traditional agriculture is making a global resurgence, a critical challenge looms: how to bridge the gap between heritage and sustainability. As societies seek to reconnect with ancestral farming practices, they face the task of harmonising ancient wisdom with modern environmental demands. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the AGRI-DRY project aims to transform European and African doctoral training in traditional agriculture. This transformation involves rigorous interdisciplinary research techniques and a dual emphasis on research and practical application. By bridging the gap between academia and policymaking institutions, AGRI-DRY promises to empower a new generation of researchers and advocates.

AGRARSENSE

Smart, digitalized components and systems for data-based Agriculture and Forestry

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €14,276,023.41

Food security has become an increasing concern due to a mixed bag of factors that include climate change, fragile supply chains and agricultural activity. In fact, the increase in agricultural production to nourish a growing global population has highlighted the need for innovative solutions. With this in mind, the EU-funded AGRARSENSE project will combine the efforts of large enterprises, SMEs and research and technology organisations. To do this, they will develop several technologies like automated agricultural tools and improved sensor technology that will help improve efficiency and protect value chains.

ALFAwetlands

Wetland Restoration for the Future

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €7,967,115.00

Wetlands have enormous potential for carbon sequestration and adaptation, but gaps in knowledge limit their efficient use and options in the context of land use, land-use change and forestry. The EU-funded project ALFAwetlands aims to help expand the geospatial knowledge base for these ecosystems. Its co-creation approach envisions enabling the support of more inclusive and community-based approaches to restoring wetlands. Experimental data and living labs will be leveraged to integrate interdisciplinary and multi-actor research on associated ecological, environmental, social and economic issues. ALFAwetlands will assess the overall societal and well-being impacts of wetland restoration at local, national and EU levels.

Hort2thefuture

Horticultural innovations in soil-friendly practices to ensure a sustainable future

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €5,941,413.25

The multi-actor project Hort2thefuture will address these 3 challenges over 4 years with research, supplier, retail, and grower partners representing 11 European countries. Activities are divided between 7 Work Packages corresponding to the project's key objectives, together with project management. The objectives are to: (1) develop a methodological framework and tools for effective sustainability/Life Cycle Assessment analysis, (2) create and foster the commercial uptake of relatively low-cost, reliable, scalable growing media in horticulture, using EU-sourced raw materials, having substantially lower carbon and environmental footprints than peat, (3) develop and commercialise novel products and production systems that reduce input use in horticulture, (4) develop and commercialise novel products that improve soil structure and mitigate soil compaction in horticulture, (5) facilitate behavioural change to more sustainable practices through Living Labs and policy measures, and (6) communicate, disseminate & exploit project results effectively to 7 stakeholder audiences, raising soil literacy. 

SUS-SOIL

Sustainable Soil and Subsoil health promotion by implementing agroecological land use and management to enhance ecosystem services delivery for society

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €5,997,613.75

SUS-SOIL is a 4-year project adopting multidisciplinary approach that will develop a set of 15 Subsoil-Living Labs (LLs) to inventory, analyse and benchmark different agroecology subsoil management (ASM) and land uses and their impacts on the subsoil spatial variations and dynamics to best combine ASM practices in rural and urban areas within a global regional context. SUS-SOIL results will be the start point to increase the awareness of land managers and public authorities to understand the subsoil threats and risks, support EU agroecological transformation tackling subsoils and increasing ecosystem services delivery, promote water security and climate change mitigation of rural and urban ecosystems. 

SEACURE

Innovative solutions to prevent, reduce and remediate nutrient pollution along the land-river-sea system in the Mediterranean basin

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €7,937,485.13

The overwhelming scientific evidence provided by the academic corpus indicates that to tackle the origin and negative impacts of nutrient pollution on water, soil and biodiversity, a wide landscape-river-sea system approach needs to be used. This should work on sustainable land management practices (especially, agricultural ones), improved wastewater treatment, and feasible nature restoration strategies. The project SEACURE will aim at demonstrating, scaling up and replicating effective innovations for the systemic prevention and reduction of nutrient pollution in the Mediterranean Sea basin, in line with the innovation ecosystem framework provided by the ongoing Mediterranean Lighthouse projects (as BlueMissionMed) and in close cooperation with related activities implemented by regional soil health living labs in the area.

Path4Med

Demonstrating innovative pathways addressing water and soil pollution in the Mediterranean Agro-Hydro-System

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €8,059,322.75

Path4Med is a multi-participatory and multidisciplinary project that will pave clear pathways towards zero water and soil pollution in the agro-hydro-system of the Mediterranean sea basin and other European seas through an innovative triple bottom line approach achieving economic, social, and environmental sustainability to ensure human well-being and ecosystems functioning. 

SpongeWorks

Co-creating and Upscaling Sponge Landscapes by Working with Natural Water Retention and Sustainable Management

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €14,998,925.00

SpongeWorks aims to demonstrate practical, effective, economically feasible and inclusive approaches and solutions towards enhancing the sponge functioning of interconnected groundwater, soil and surface water systems at regional scale. It applies an integrative multi-actor approach to demonstrate the effectiveness of multifunctional sponge measures for improved water and soil management for enhancing water retention in three large demonstrators in the Pinios (GR), Lèze (FR) and Vecht (NL/DE) river basins. In each demonstrator, SpongeWorks evaluates existing sponge measures, draws lessons-learned and best practices, and implements new sponge measures. 

GOV4ALL

Governance and business models for living labs: rural regeneration hubs for tackling soil health challenges in the Mediterranean region

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €11,953,115.00

In the EU, 60-70% of soils are degraded as a direct result of unsustainable management. However, tackling this multifaceted challenge is not an easy task, mainly because farmers' decisions are influenced by a wide range of factors, making it difficult to define regenerative soil management practices that are simultaneously effective, economical, have demonstrable yield benefits and are easy to implement. In this context, the goal of the project GOV4ALL is to foster a collective awareness, at the the level of five Mediterranean regions, that soils and humans must be understood as social-ecological systems and that no organisation/solution alone is capable of sustainably transforming the system.

iCOSHELLs

INNOVATIVE CO-CREATION SOIL HEALTH LIVING LABs

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €11,999,872.50

European soils face pressing conditions for their health. An alarming 60-70% of EU soils are considered unhealthy, attributed to factors such as pollution, urbanisation, and intensive agriculture, further exacerbated by climate change. This degradation results in economic, societal, and environmental repercussions, including decreased land productivity, migration, land abandonment, and biodiversity loss. Addressing this challenge necessitates holistic measures, especially since soil restoration can take centuries. The project initiative, aligning with various EU policies, emphasises the importance of comprehensive soil restoration efforts. It plans to establish six Soil Health Living Labs (SHELLs) across diverse EU climatic zones, including Sweden, Spain, Spain-France, Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria.